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  News   The financial integrity of the Abia State Government has once again come under scrutiny following fresh revelations that billions of naira were expended on phantom school projects that appear nowhere on the ground across the state. According to the recently published Abia State Government Project Financial Report for the third quarter of 2025, a staggering ₦12.8 billion was recorded as expenditure on the construction and rehabilitation of public schools. The report, which was duly signed by the Accountant General of the State, Mrs. Njum Onyemenam , was uploaded to the official Abia State website under the supervision of Governor Alex Otti ’s administration. However, this latest disclosure has triggered widespread outrage, as it comes barely months after earlier reports indicated that the state government had already spent ₦54 billion in the last quarters of 2024 and another ₦14 billion in the early quarter of 2025 on similar projects none of which have been phys...

  Opinion   Paying taxes is a civic duty I have always taken seriously, not just because of my public profile, but also because I firmly believe one must practice what they preach. For clarity, all my tax clearance certificates during my time in office were processed through First Bank as i was still a staff of the bank, though seconded to Abia State Government from May 2015, until June 2019. Abia State Government never paid a kobo as salary throughout my four years as Commissioner of Finance . Consequently, my personal income tax could not have been processed through the state government’s Tax system. It is worth noting that the current Chairman of the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue ( Udo Ogbonna )once served under my supervision during the Ikpeazu administration . Many still recall the circumstances surrounding his resignation towards end of 2019, a matter I would prefer not to revisit unless absolutely necessary. Since leaving government in 2019, I have consistentl...

  News   Following the total collapse of his much-speculated move to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti , has reportedly reignited his battle for control of the Labour Party (LP), a development that has once again thrown the party into fresh turmoil. On Thursday, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman , who is widely seen as Otti’s political ally and factional chairperson of the Labour Party, called for the arrest of the party’s national chairman, Julius Abure , as well as a former acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Her call has, however, been met with a swift and stern response from Abure, who described the move as a desperate political witch-hunt, vowing to “activate legal wheels” against Nenadi Usman and her associates for what he termed an attempt to destabilize the party’s leadership. Political observers believe this marks the beginning of another protracted internal crisis within the Labour Party...

  Opinion   We wish to openly appreciate the Abia State Government for its listening ear to the yearnings of the opposition and the people of Abia State . At the onset, when we began to shine the spotlight on the activities of the Abia State Government, many dismissed us as mere noisemakers or disgruntled opposition figures lamenting because their “feeding bottles” had been taken away.  Unfortunately, many of these criticisms even came from those who are direct beneficiaries of the agitation and advocacy championed by the opposition. Today, however, we can point to several positive outcomes and reforms that have emerged as a result of constructive opposition engagements; 1.) Increment in Local Government Councillors’ Salaries : Last month, we challenged the state government over the meagre ₦240,000 monthly salary paid to local government councillors, despite each local government in Abia receiving an average of ₦560 million monthly from the federation allocation . The c...

  News   Tragedy struck in Aba , Abia State ’s commercial hub, on Tuesday afternoon when a section of the popular Ekeoha Shopping Complex , currently undergoing reconstruction by the administration of Governor Alex Otti , collapsed leaving scores feared dead and many others injured. Eyewitnesses described the horrifying scene as chaos erupted in the usually bustling complex. Traders, artisans, and construction workers reportedly scampered for safety when the structure gave way, trapping several people beneath the rubble. The collapsed market, one of the major commercial redevelopment projects embarked upon by the Otti administration, was being handled by Rhino Homes and Properties , a construction company linked to Mr. Chinedu Onyeizu , the contractor. Mr. Onyeizu, who contested for the Abia South Senatorial seat under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 and again under the Labour Party in 2023, is described by sources as a serial election loser who was allegedly com...