Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Looted Abia Government Properties, Funds, and Related Matters has submitted its final report to Governor Alex Otti.
Otti set up the panel shortly after coming to power, with a mandate to recover every looted fund and government property.
Speaking during the handover of the report, Chairman of the panel, Hon. Justice Florence Duroha-Igwe (retd.), said members of the panel discharged their duty without bias but gave everyone an opportunity for defense.
Justice Duroha-Igwe explained that out of the 350 petitions and memoranda received, the panel was able to hear, conclude, and submit its report on 278.
“You did not wish that any Abian should be sent home without being heard,” Justice Duroha-Igwe explained.
She informed the Governor that the report was in two volumes: an addendum to the main report and an addendum to the proceedings, and thanked the Governor for the opportunity to serve the state.
Responding, Governor Otti emphasized that the setting up of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry was not for any form of vendetta or witch-hunting.
“Setting up this Judicial Panel of Inquiry had nothing to do with vendetta, nor did it have anything to do with scapegoatism.
“We just needed to know what happened. Like we had said a long time ago, a proper handover was not done. So, a lot of times, we were just groping, trying to get information. But that’s by the way now. We’ve trudged on and we’ve done two years.
“But then, a lot of people had a lot of concerns, which we felt that in a democracy, they needed to be heard. And those concerns needed to be investigated.”
Governor Otti assured that the government would take the report seriously, disclosing that already, a committee on the white paper production had been constituted and the report would be given to them.
“So, one thing that I can confirm to you is that we are going to take this report very seriously. Like the Honourable Attorney General has said, these two volumes will be immediately dispatched to the Committee on the Production of the White Paper, which will be an instrument.
“So, the Committee (White Paper Production), I’m aware, has been doing a lot of work on the already submitted volumes.
“And these will also be sent to them so that they can flesh out the issues that we need to deal with,” Gov. Otti stated.
The Governor thanked the Chairman and members of the panel for the hard work they did in the past two years and a few months, saying that the government did not anticipate that the panel would take much time.
“We also did not expect the barrage of petitions and memoranda. So, like you rightly pointed out when you submitted the first set of reports, you had indicated that you had over 70 memoranda and petitions that you were not able to look into.
“We felt it was not going to be fair to ignore people who had sat down to put their thoughts together on what they knew about the state. And that’s why we had to extend your stay,” Gov. Otti stated.
