At least N1.86 billion was looted in Abia State by officials of the state government in 2023, an audit report by the state auditor-general has revealed.
The 88-page report was released in May 2024.
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It was titled, “report of the auditor-general for the state on the financial statements and accounts of the Abia State Government of Nigeria for the year ended 31st December 2023.”
It covered the period of one year- from January to December 2023.
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The governors in power at the time
Okezie Ikpeazu served as the governor of Abia State from 29 May 2015 to 29 May 2023 under the Peoples Democratic Party.
Alex Otti of the Labour Party took over from Mr Ikpeazu on 29 May 2023 after winning the March 2023 governorship election in the state.
This means that Mr Ikpeazu served as governor in the state for five months within the period, while his successor, Mr Otti, governed for seven months within the same year.
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Alleged looting, diversion of funds
The alleged diversion of funds and looting by some officials breached the various provisions of the state’s financial regulations and civil service rules, the report stated.
According to the report, the alleged fraud involved the award of contracts without due process, payments that circumvented due process, purchases that were not delivered, and funds that were insufficiently accounted for or unaccounted for.
Others include tax evasion, non-execution of awarded contracts, unvouched payments, unrecorded expenditures, payments made without evidence, and unremitted tax deductions.
PREMIUM TIMES tallied the figures for “suspicious expenditures” and “unaccounted funds” from the affected ministries, departments, and agencies to arrive at the total amount.
Some government institutions affected included various high and magistrate courts, the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission, the state Ministry of Petroleum, and the Abia State Agency for Mass Literacy in Umuahia.
Others included Abia State Polytechnic Aba, colleges of education, and secondary schools.
The alleged looted funds
Of the N1.86 billion, a total of N1,782, 419,567 was either unaccounted for outright or paid without following due processes, the report stated.
A total of N79,461,000 was allegedly diverted into private accounts owned and operated by individuals working for the Abia State Government.
PREMIUM TIMES counted at least 54 transactions and payments which were queried in the audit report for various reasons, as earlier indicated in this report.
How funds were diverted into private accounts
The diversion of public funds into private accounts happened at the Abia State Ministry of Finance and the state’s Ministry of Petroleum, according to the report.
The report said N32,120,000 was transferred from the government treasury into the account of the then-permanent secretary of the finance ministry, whom we prefer to identify simply as Kelechi.
Similarly, the report said N5,720,000 was transferred into the account of the current director of finance at the ministry, Obinna Nwaokoma.
The two suspicious transactions totalled N37,840,000.
Kelechi’s known mobile number was unreachable when our reporter called the line from January to April. He has yet to respond to a text message seeking his comments.
Sources told PREMIUM TIMES that Kelechi, who was among civil servants disengaged from service by Governor Alex Otti’s administration in late 2023, had travelled outside Nigeria.
However, Mr Nwaokoma, when contacted on 11 April, denied receiving N5.7 million belonging to the government in his private bank account.
He told PREMIUM TIMES that he had worked as an accountant in the civil service for 31 years and that he could not have allowed his private bank account to be used for government business.
“There is no such thing,” he said.
He said he had been invited by the Abia State House of Assembly and the state’s audit unit, where he was cleared of the allegation.
“When we got back to the state’s audit, they said it (the allegation) was an oversight, and we said, ‘but you people didn’t get back to us,’” he narrated.
The official said he was ready to make his bank statement available for scrutiny, insisting that he was not guilty as had been alleged earlier.
Similarly, the audit report said N41,621,000 was “found to have been lodged into” the account of Philemon Asonye Ogbonna, the state commissioner for environment.
Mr Asonye was appointed as commissioner in July 2023 by the incumbent governor of the state, Mr Otti.
He is still the commissioner as of this report in April 2026.
The report said the public fund which was lodged into the commissioner’s private account was “purported to be for the Abia Industrial and Innovative Park at Owaza, Ukwa West Local Government (Area).”
“This practice is against Financial Regulation 809,” the report stated.
“Even where such monies were meant for specific payments or settlement of bills on behalf of the state government, they are supposed to pass through the records for proper vouching and documentation and due process followed,” it added.
The Financial Regulation 809 is part of the Abia State Financial Regulations.
The regulation provides for accounting of public funds paid into official accounts “not later than the next business day” after the deposit at the bank.
However, bank tellers with respect to sums paid on the last business day of the month can be submitted on the same day, the regulation said.
Non-execution of awarded contracts
In an instance of alleged fraud, the report said N782,000 was released to the Registrar of Abia State College of Health Sciences and Management Technology, B.O. Ibendiogwe, for the facelift of the school’s administrative block.
However, the audit team could not confirm the facelift during its physical verification of the administrative block, the report stated.
“The official receipts of this purported expenditure of the sum were not presented for audit verification,” it added.
In another instance of alleged fraud, the report said there was an irregular payment of Duty Tour Allowances (DTA) at the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba.
The report said N1,020,000, for instance, was paid to staff of the polytechnic as DTA “for jobs they sat in their office to do and within official hours.”
Auditor-General’s efforts
In addressing the issues, the auditor-general separately asked the affected heads of institutions, agencies, and ministries to take action to remedy the anomalies.
He, however, said he had yet to receive a response from them as of the time of his audit report.
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Asonye reacts
When contacted again on 10 March, Mr Asonye admitted that the N41.6 million had indeed been paid into his private account in 2024, explaining that the funds were for the construction of the Abia Industrial and Innovative Park at Owaza, in the Ukwa West Local Government Area of the state.
“The value you saw (N41.6 million) in the audit report were used for the project, not that I used the money (for my private projects),” he said, explaining that he was responsible for consulting with members of about six communities who owned parcel of land where the project was sited.
“These are expenses made on government business.”
PREMIUM TIMES reminded the commissioner that the payment of government funds into his private account violated Financial Regulation 809 of Abia State.
“Reach the auditor-general (of Abia State). She will give you a response to that,” he responded.
Mr Asonye insisted that he would not speak on the violation of the Financial Regulation 809 despite repeated explanations by our reporter that he (the commissioner) needed to react instead because the auditor-general had already acknowledged the violation in her audit report.
“You said this money passed through my personal account. I told you what the money was used for. So, let the auditor-general tell you whether sending the money into my personal account was in breach of the Financial Regulation 809 or not, not me,” he insisted.
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