Abia State Government has debunked the claims made by one of the state’s PDP Governorship aspirant, Mr Ncheta Omerekpe, over allegations of securing a 300 Million Dollars Loan from the African Development Bank for the State.
Recall that Omerekpe had in a trending video circulating online claimed that “he secured a loan of 300 Million Dollars from the African Development Bank for the State” , after the Governor “ran to him”.
But in a swift reaction, the state government through the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Onyebuchi Ememanka who described the allegations as ridiculous, stated that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu will pursue the
issue before a Court of Law.
“Omerekpe cannot malign the integrity of the Governor of Abia State, tell wicked lies against him of such magnitude and walk away freely. Omerekpe will definitely hear from the Governor’s lawyers very soon”,Ememanka vowed.
He made it clear that Abia State has not accessed any alleged loan of 300 Million Dollars or any amount from the African Development Bank. “Not a penny! Not a single dime”.
Ememanka in a press release made available to journalists, stated that from the workings of International Financing Development Partner like the African Development Bank,it does not require interventions from individuals to secure any loan for the Abia State Government or any government at all.
He said that Governor has been in the forefront of leading the negotiations with the African Development Bank and has had several interfaces with the Bank’s topmost Management Team both in their Nigerian office at Abuja and their headquarters in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ikpeazu while adding that transactions of securing loans from the Bank follow laid down and internationally recognized standard procedures and processes, challenged Omerekpe to get the right information from agencies of the Federal Government like the Debt Management Office.
He said; “It is a gratuitous insult on the credibility of an International Finance Organization like the African Development Bank whose institutional shareholding structure ranges from all African countries and other countries like the United States of America for a character like Omerekpe to claim that he facilitated a loan from the Bank to a State Government in Nigeria.
“Such high level discussions are held, and official correspondences thereon exchanged, using established economic diplomatic channels which are not available to funny fellows like Omerekpe.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly who play statutory roles in such bilateral financial arrangements are fully aware of the status of the discussions between the Abia State Government and the African Development Bank.
“300 Million Dollars is a lot of money. No such amount of money or any amount at all has been accessed by the Abia State Government from the African Development Bank at any time.
Any serious person can effortlessly get information about such things from agencies of the Federal Government like the Debt Management Office”.
On the claims by the PDP Governorship hopeful of facilitating another 2 Billion Dollars investment from the same African Development Bank in the area of Agriculture for the State Government, in which he alleged that the investment was frustrated because some officials of the State Government demanded a bribe of 200 Million Dollars from the investor, Ememanka urged Abians to disregard the spurious claims.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu would never ask for nor support the asking of any form of gratification from any investors before investing in the State.
“It is common knowledge that as at today, this Governor has been the most passionate when it comes to investment drives in the Country and the rating of Abia State by the National Bureau of Statistics as the 3rd Best State in Foreign Direct Investments is a clear pointer to the seriousness the Governor attaches to such issues”, Ememanka said.
