Abia Inquiry not for Vendetta, Otti says as Panel Submit Final Report

Governor Alex Otti has received the final report of the Abia State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Government Properties, Funds, and Related Matters.

Receiving the report from the Chairman, Justice Florence Duroha-Igwe (Rtd), on Tuesday, Otti emphasised that the setting up of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry was not for vendetta or witch-hunting.

He noted that the panel was necessary to address some issues of concerns that needed to be heard.

“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,” Otti said.

“Like we had said, and it was 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,”

The Governor assured that the report would not swept under the carpet revealing that a committee had already been constituted to produce the white paper and the report would be given to them.

“We also did not expect the barrages 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 have 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.

Earlier while submitting the report, the Chairman of the panel, Hon. Justice Florence Duroha-Igwe (Rtd) explained that, out of the 350 petitions and memoranda received, the panel was able to hear, conclude and submit its report on 278.

Justice Duruoha-Igwe informed the Governor that, the report was in 2 volumes; an addendum to the main report and an addendum to the proceedings and thanked the Governor for the opportunity to serve the State.

The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Ikechukwu Uwanna and other senior Government officials were present at the event.