KEY POINTS
- The Abia Government state that new government house is without wardrobes, plastering and functional elevator.
- According to reports, only one floor in the structure is completed.
- Commissioner Okey Kanu says the project was a misappropriation of state resources, and it never deserved a living space.
The Abia state government alleges that former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu hastily inaugurated an incomplete and uninhabitable government house just 24 hours before leaving office, even though he allegedly admitted that the house was never fit for residential occupancy.
Commissioner states facility lacks basic amenities
The commissioner for information, Prince Okey Kanu, brought the charges during his press tour of the complex in Ogurube Layout, Umuahia. He says the structure lacks integral things like wardrobes and a working elevator, making it unsuitable for a sitting governor.
This place appears inhabitable. There are no wardrobes anywhere. Most of those we saw were just empty halls, Kanu said, questioning the original configuration and purpose of this building.
Uninhabitable government house, structure allegedly unfinished, unsafe
Kanu stressed that only the first floor of the edifice looks complete, and the rest are under construction. He had termed the building potentially hazardous, cautioning that poorly secured portions of the building may pose life threatening risks.
You can see a lot of the places were not plastered, the elevator was not installed. The whole place looks dangerous. If anyone missteps you fall through the place to your death, he said.
Government labels project misuse of public funds
The Commissioner accused the former regime of using the impressive but empty project in a bid to fool the public. They used the state’s resources to construct this huge edifice, which, according to Kanu, serves no purpose.
He dismissed rumours by Ikpeazu’s aides that current Governor Alex Otti had abandoned the new Government House, instead saying that Otti had only resisted occupation of an unsafe and in-complete building.
