After receiving the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on recovery of looted funds and properties of Abia State, Governor Alex Otti has vowed to implement the final recommendations to the letter.
He stated his intention at the weekend when he received three volumes of reports turned in by the panel headed by Justice Florence Duruoha-Igwe(rtd), after 13 months of investigations.
Otti granted the panel extension of its work following request by the Chairman, on the ground that there were still a number of petitions yet to be treated.
He said that it was reasonable to extend the lifespan of the panel “since there are petitions that have not been investigated”.
According to him, in the circumstance it has found itself, “more time should be given to the panel to cover (the remaining areas) instead of abruptly terminating the job of the panel”.
Otti assured the panel members that he would on no account sweep their final recommendations under the carpet, adding that the interim report in his hand “was a job thoroughly done”.
He expressed confidence that the “final report would not depart from that trajectory you have set,” adding that their efforts would not be treated with levity.
“I can assure you that we are going to take this report very very seriously and we are going to implement it to the letter”.
“I want to reassure you that none of your recommendations will be swept under the carpet,” he told the panel members.
The Abia governor said that “it is only courage that you require to do the right thing”, noting that “one thing that is not lacking in this government is courage”.
He said: “It doesn’t matter how long you have been living in a decayed system. Once you have the courage to correct it, you will start a new journey and anytime you start a new journey with courage, you will also be able to complete it”.
Otti further stated that he “heard how people tried to frustrate” the efforts of the panel and “how you resisted them” in the course of carrying out their investigations.
He told the panel chairman that resistance of the panel to the challenges of detractors “will go down in history as part of the courageous effort you and your team had made to rescue Abia State and to put it on the developmental path”.
Governor Otti disclosed that some of the people investigated by the panel for being in possession of illegally acquired government properties have started returning them to government.
According to him, “one came here to return documents of a property somewhere that he acquired illegitimately and he said he didn’t want our trouble”.
Otti called on those yet to comply with the panel’s directive to follow the example of the person who has returned his loot “before government comes after them”.
The Chairman of the panel had while submitting the three-volume report, said that the panel received 350 petitions and memoranda and had 99 sittings.
She explained that they were able to conclude on such areas of their assignment as markets, lands, employments, movable properties, contracts and other related matters.
Justice Duru-Igwe stated that, despite the challenges, her team did its best not minding whose ox was gored.