Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has reaffirmed his 2020 statement concerning the handling of $155 million during the administration of former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi.
Otti made the clarification during an interview with Arise Television while responding to questions about a statement he published on June 8, 2020, regarding Obi’s management of government funds.
According to the Abia governor, the statement was intended to demonstrate that public officials could still be prudent and responsible in managing government resources.
Otti explained that, while he was the Chief Executive Officer of a bank at the time, Obi had initially planned to keep the funds in naira. He said he advised the former Anambra governor to consider converting the money to dollars because of the continued depreciation of the naira.
He said the funds were subsequently converted to dollars, adding that his account of the incident was based on what actually happened.
“They are referring to what I wrote in 2020. I think that was June 8, 2020. I was using it to prove that it’s still possible for people to be prudent in government,” Otti said.
He added, “It’s an account of what happened. And I had said that as the CEO of the bank at that time, he was going to leave the money in naira, and when he came to me and I said no, this naira you want to keep, naira will keep losing value.
“So you probably want to convert it to dollars, and it was converted.
“So it’s a statement of fact, and it’s something that happened several years, six years ago. So I haven’t spoken again, and so that’s what they are referring to.”
Otti maintained that his 2020 account was simply a recollection of events and said he had not made any further comments on the matter since then.
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