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Former Attorney General of Abia State, Uche Ihediwa, has rejected allegations by legal scholar Chidi Odinkalu, published in PREMIUM TIMES, that he shielded fraudsters and entered into questionable agreements in the litigation over the Paris Refund recovered by the state.
The Paris Refund refers to monies refunded by the federal government to states following the discovery that external debt repayments made to the Paris Club of creditors between 1995 and 2002 were over-deducted from state allocations.
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Abia State, like other states, engaged private consultants at different times to help recover its share of the refunds. This process later became controversial due to disputes over consultancy fees, competing claims by multiple firms over who facilitated the recovery, and allegations of irregularities in the handling of the contracts and payments.
Mr Ihediwa was reacting to an article published by Mr Odinkalu on February 15 titled “Fraudsters-In-Law; The Conspiracy Against Abia State,” in which the former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission accused him and a lawyer, Chibuzo Aguocha, of frustrating efforts to prosecute alleged fraudsters linked to the recovery of the Paris Refund.
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Rebuttal
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mr Ihediwa said the claims were not properly fact-checked and failed to present the full context of multiple court cases involving consultants engaged by successive Abia State governments to recover funds from the Federal Government.
“My name and that of others have been dragged into a narrative that did not reflect the full facts of the cases before the courts,” Mr Ihediwa said. “It is unfortunate that allegations of this magnitude were made without reaching out to the people involved.”
The former attorney general said Abia State had, between 2012 and 2018, entered into several contracts with private firms, including Ziplon Concept, Mauritz Walton and Zilcon Higgs International Limited, to recover the state’s share of the Paris Refund. He said disputes later arose over which firms were responsible for the recovery and how much each was entitled to in consultancy fees.
According to him, four firms at different times claimed to have played key roles in recovering over N16.3 billion paid to Abia State in 2017, leading to multiple lawsuits at the Federal Capital Territory High Court and the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Prejudicial to the state’s interests.
Mr Ihediwa said that during his tenure as attorney general between 2019 and 2023, he opposed attempts by some of the contractors to obtain judgment against Abia State and took steps to halt proceedings he considered prejudicial to the state’s interests.
“I did not allow a kobo to be paid to any of the contractors during my tenure,” he said. “At no point did I receive any money from any of them.”
He also rejected claims that he failed to act on a suggestion from a High Court judge to refer the matter to the police for investigation.
“The EFCC investigated these matters, and they are now before the courts,” he said. “I refrained from media trials because the cases are sub judice.”
Mr Ihediwa further denied allegations that he personally benefited from a consent judgment entered into between Abia State and Ziplon Concept Nigeria Limited, stating that the agreement was intended to protect the state’s interests.
“The lawyer mentioned in the article was engaged by the company involved, not by the Abia State Government,” he said. “Any professional fees due to him were to come from the company’s own earnings, not from the state.”
He accused Mr Odinkalu of omitting the fact that a petition written by one of the firms to the Abia State Government was later withdrawn, a development he said undermined the claims made in the article.
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“It is unfair for serious allegations to be made while leaving out material facts that would give the public a fuller picture,” Mr Ihediwa said.
The former attorney general said the cases arising from the Paris Refund recovery remain before the courts and should not be subjected to trial by media, adding that he was open to any formal investigation into the matter.
Mr Odinkalu had yet to respond to Mr Ihediwa’s rebuttal as of press time.
