Two Abia Citizens have dragged Mr Obinna Oriaku, the immediate past Commissioner for Finance, Abia State, to the State House of Assembly following the allegations made by the former Commissioner over the Paris Club refund.
However, following the petition, by the duo, Messrs Anthony Aniobi and Lekweuwa Ndubueze against the immediate past Commissioner for Finance, the House on Monday set up a five man committee to investigate the allegations.
The petitioners are worried that the former commissioner made claims which he could not substantiate, pointing out that the allegations which are largely unsubstantiated with facts and figures are horrifying.
The two businessmen had written to the House through their lawyer, Messrs Ndukwe Iheanyi and Co, asking it to investigate the statement credited to the former commissioner to the effect that the Paris Club refund as accrued to Abia State was mismanaged by the immediate past administration of Theodore Orji.
According to the petitioners, they were embarrassed by Obinna Oriaku’s allegations in conventional and social media platforms, saying that his claims which are trending in the social media, should not be allowed to ease out without being thoroughly and properly investigated.
However, contrary to our earlier report, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee is Hon. (Barr.) Emeka Okoroafor (APC Isuikwuato), while Chukwu Chijioke (APC Bende North), Obinna Ichite (APC Aba South), Abraham Oba (APC Aba Central) are to serve as members.
Rev Emeka Otunche was appointed as the Secretary of the Committee, even as the Committee was given one week to report back to the House.
Orji described the allegations by the former commissioner as weighty which should not be swept under the carpet and therefore asked the committee to do a thorough job on them so that the public will know the truth.
The former commissioner had alleged in several fora that the Paris Club refund as accrued to Abia was mismanaged because the immediate past administration, aware that it was about to be released, hired two consultants to handle it even though it was eventually released when its tenure expired in May 2015.
However, Messrs Ndukwe Iheanyi and Co, representing their clients, Messrs Anthony Aniobi and Lekweuwa Ndubueze had described the statement by Oriaku as embarrassing; adding that he (Obinna Oriaku) failed to give a good explanation of his assertions.
The chairman of the House Committee on Petitions, Hon Emeka Okoroafor (APC Isuikwuato) said while reading out the petition that “the petitioners are worried that the said Obinna Oriaku did not give any explanations of the allegations and therefore has raised certain issues that should as a matter of urgency and importance be thoroughly investigated”.
Uche Nwosu is a two time Shell Petroleum PLC award winner in the year 2000;
He won the Shell Award on Investigative Journalism and Environmental Cleanliness.
