Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has said that preparations have commenced for his movement into the Government House in Umuahia, the state capital, saying that his administration is already upgrading it, including the Governor’s office from where his predecessors, military and nonmilitary, operated and resided.
Otti has been operating from his Nvosi country home office since his inauguration on May 29, 2023.
The governor announced this at the weekend during a Sabbath Church service, held at the Unity Chapel located in the Government House premises, Umuahia.
Some Abians had publicly criticised the governor for operating from his Nvosi country home in Isiala Ngwa South Council, which is about an hour’s drive from Umuahia.
Explaining his delay in moving into the Government House, Otti said that he did not consider it a priority at the beginning of his administration due to its poor state. He described the Governor’s Lodge he met as more or less like a makeshift place.
He added that though the Government House was important, it was not as important as many other things that have a direct impact on the people of the state.
He added that there were many challenges his administration met on the ground that he considered more pressing priorities.
He said: “As a student of economics, we have brought with us a scale of preference. And we sat down and said, okay, everything is important, but some are more important than others.
“We didn’t think this Government House was more important than salaries. We didn’t think it was more important than the primary healthcare centres,” among many others he listed.
Otti’s immediate predecessor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, had, on the eve of the end of his eight years in office, on May 28, 2023, commissioned a new Government House at Ogwurube Layout, a new government station, about three kilometres from the current Government House.
However, only the ground floor of this new three-storey Government House building was completed; hence, it was not ready for occupation.
Recently, the current Information Commissioner, Prince Okey Kanu, led journalists on an inspection visit to the uncompleted government building commissioned by Ikpeazu, and announced that the Otti administration decided to convert it into a five-star hotel, rather than use it as a Governor’s Lodge.
He also stated that considering its location, scenario and surrounding habitations, it has security implications as a governor’s residence. It was gathered that this was the counsel and opinion of security experts.
However, a former Information Commissioner under the Ikpeazu administration, Dr Eze Chikamnayo, has threatened to institute legal action against Otti’s reported plan to convert the new Government House commissioned by the ex-governor in Umuahia into a five-star hotel.
Chikamnayo said that his proposed legal challenge would seek to nullify all government decisions taken from the governor’s private location and compel him (Otti) to relocate to the official Government House.
