The Abia State government has said that the purported new Government House claimed to have been completed and commissioned by the immediate past administration is unhabitable and never meant for residential building.
Okey Kanu, Commissioner for Information, stated this in Umuahia after leading journalists on facility tour of the project located ar Ogurube Layout , Umuahiia.
This is against the backdrop of narrative by the past administration in the state that the administration of Governor Alex OttI has abandoned the new Government House.
Kanu stated that the complex lacks so many facilities to be called a Government House.
“This place appears inhabitable. There are no wardrobes anywhere. Most of what we saw were just halls, empty halls.
“Did anybody see any wardrobe in any of the floors? There were no wardrobes. So this place was never meant, at the initial, to be a residential house.
“And one begins to wonder, the person and persons that designed this so called Government House. One begins to wonder what they had in mind when they designed this kind of Government House and expected a governor to come and live in this kind of place,” He said.
He emphasized that, just like the governor stated few days ago, the building was not completed.
“And there is only the first floor that appears to have been finished. The rest of the floors were not finished.
“Ofcourse, when Dr. ALex Otti spoke about this Government House a few days ago, John Okiyi Kalu went to Arise, as usual, to spew falsehood.
“Almost everything he said was a lie. Now I brought you people here to see for yourselves and to confirm what Dr. Alex Otti said.
“You can see a lot of the places were not plastered, the elevator, non-installed. The whole place looks dangerous. if anybody missteps there, you can fall through the place to your death,” Kanu stated .
The Abia Information boss said that the past administration quickly rushed down there and put up the structure as a ploy to deceive members of the public that it was a Government House.
“Granted, you will see a few furniture here. But that is as much as you can see. Nothing on the next floor.
“They misused the resources of the state to put up this gigantic edifice that is meant to achieve nothing, so to speak. This place is not habitable,” he said.
He noted that even the location of the building is a security risk as there are a lot of buildings around the complex and maintained that whatever John Okiyi kalu said as a refutal on Arise TV are lies meant to deceive Nigerians.
The commissioner disclosed that the governor has directed that a new Government House be built at the place the old Government House is situated.
He used the opportunity to debunk the lies and insinuations that the old Government House was a rented apartment.
“And let me debunk another lie. Before now, they said that, that old Government House was a rented apartment. It was not a rented apartment.
“That property was acquired, duly acquired by the other state government, but those people who were in office before now were busy paying themselves rent from government coffers, deceiving the public that they were paying rent for a Government House”.
Kanu, who further said that government has plans to build a Government House at the old government site, disclosed that the supposed Government House at Ogurube Layout be turned into a five- star hotel.
He said that Governor Otti, being a responsible governor, would not allow waste and would never misuse the resources of Abians and enjoined Abians to discountenance the rantings of the opposition and sustain their support to Governor Alex Otti.
