Lately, I have been stumbling on very deceptive, mischievous, and cynically written pieces, unreasonably critical of Governor Alex Otti-led Government by one Mr. Obinna Oriaku, a former Commissioner for Finance during the locust years of Abia State and a kitchen cabinet member of the gang of notorious Lootocrats who plundered Abia State resources and ran the State aground.
In a sane clime, Mr. Oriaku would have been watching and reading about the ongoing transformation of Abia State from behind the tall walls of a heavily guarded maximum security prison.
He is only still writing from the comfort of his home while enjoying the proceeds of his loot from Public Treasury because the anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria are
either ineffective or compromised.
Mr. Obinna Oriaku played a leading role in the creation of emergency billionaires without enterprise under Ex-Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
He acquired massive hectares and parcels of land in his village from every willing seller as a commissioner with funds from god knows where.
In 2016, Mr. Uche Aguoru challenged Mr. Obinna Oriaku as Commissioner for Finance to account for the N14.2 Billion bail out funds and N16.3 Billion Paris Club refunds (About $90 Million Equivalent then) from the Federal Government to Abia State Government and questioned why the State was still owing teachers, Abia State polytechnic, Abia State College of Education Technical, Abia State University Teaching Hospital and others arrears of salaries including pension arrears of senior citizens.
Mr. Obinna Oriaku was eventually eased out of the government in 2019 but given a soft landing when it was discovered that he was looting more than his boss in preparation for his secret governorship ambition. They were right after all, as his dead on arrival ambition was made manifest in the run-up to the 2023 election.
As a former Commissioner for Finance, irrespective of his loot-centred mission under a visionless administration, Mr. Obinna should understand the anguage and lexicon of Budget and Budgeting as an ex-banker.
He is only being mischievous and dubious if he is pretends not to understand and appreciate the meaning and import of Economic Codes/Classification and Programme Classification/Project Description of Budget and Budgeting as documented by the National Charter of Accounts for the purposes of Budgeting and Budget Performance Reporting.
Mr. Obinna Oriaku has been acting like a clown performing at the circus after the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Abia State, Ctz. Ukoha Njoku Ukoha took him to the cleaners and schooled his followers on the language and lexicon of Budget and Budgeting.
He ought to have hidden his face in shame for deceiving and allowing his followers wallow in ignorance and shallowness in understanding the language of Budget Performance Reporting. The details of all spending are explained at the Programme Classification/Project Description sub-heads, not the Economic Code/Classification heading.
Mr. Oriaku has been living in Enugu even before he was appointed as the Commissioner for Finance and up till date, he is yet to point at any single project he saw in Enugu as the Capital of the defunct Eastern Region which he replicated in Abia State during his time as the Honourable Commissioner for Finance as such does not have the moral standing to embark on his bitter and lopsided daily comparison of Enugu State with Abia State.
Obinna Oriaku is proud of his records of billboard projects, arrears of salaries and pensions owed to Abia Workers and Pensioners during his time in Government and running from one radio station to the other with flimsy reasons to explain his inability to live up to the responsibilities of Government and abysmal failures, now turning around to question and criticise the current Government with the visible progress and transformation going on across Abia State being witnessed and testified by the people in the mainstreet and wallstreet except Oriaku’s gang members who prefer billboards projects and achievements.
Mr. Obinna Oriaku must repent from his mischievous and misleading life if he wants to make heaven.
Ikemba Ikenna is a mainstreet, Abian.