Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti has accused his predecessor of allegedly paying N9.8 billion to a contractor for the reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road in Aba without delivering the project.
Governor Otti declared that those opposed to his administration, including some officials of the immediate past administration in the State, are noise makers.
He said this at Umuagbai Secondary School in Aba on Wednesday during a thanksgiving and carnival organized by the Aba community in celebration of the completion of Port Harcourt Road and other projects done by the Abia State government in Aba.
Otti said, "So, listen to the response. In 2017, they awarded this Port Harcourt Road. The amount at that time was N9.8 Billion. And they paid out the entire money. But the road was not done.
“So, when in 2025, the road cost N36.5 Billion, they started making noise. So, I said, since you people understand mathematics, the average exchange rate in 2017 was N333 to a Dollar. Now, if you apply that, the N9.8 Billion was actually USD29 million equivalent".