In contrast to Governor Alex Otti’s claim that N9.8 billion was paid to the contractor managing the Aba-Port Harcourt road, former Abia State Commissioner for Finance Obinna Oriaku has said that the actual amount was only N3.2 billion.
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At a Thanksgiving and two-year anniversary carnival in Aba hosted by the Abia business community on Wednesday, Otti made the claim that the Port Harcourt road, which was allegedly not finished, received 29 million dollars (N9.8 billion) from the previous administration.
“They granted this Port Harcourt Road in 2017,” Otti stated. Those numbers came to N9.8 billion. They dispersed the whole sum. Still, we had a ways to go.
He went on to say: “So, they began to raise concerns when the road cost N36.5 billion in 2025. Since you all have a head for numbers, I informed you that the average exchange rate in 2017 was N333 to the dollar. The N9.8 billion was actually 29 million USD equivalent when you apply that.
Obinna Oriaku hit back at the claim by challenging Otti to prove that the previous government had paid such a staggering amount.
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Although he maintained that the corporation completed some work with the money, Oriaku—a frequent critic of the Otti administration—explained that the contractor overseeing the project only received N3.2 billion. From 2017 until 2023, he said, the construction company received N3.2 billion.
To further explore the true sum paid to Heartland Construction for the aforementioned road, the ex-Commissioner for Finance urged the Governor to appoint an impartial commission.
The Port Harcourt road project was worth more than N3.2 billion, or 32.6% of the total contract value, and Oriaku challenged Governor Otti to publicly show any proof of this.
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In addition, he said that he would apologize if it turns out that Okezie Ikpeazu’s government had spent N9.8 billion on transportation.