The Abia State Government has announced plans to transform the proposed new Government House at Ogurube Layout, Umuahia, into a five-star hotel.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Okey Kanu, during a media tour of the abandoned facility on Thursday.
He explained that a new Governor’s Office and Lodge would instead be constructed at the current Government House complex.
Addressing speculations about the ownership of the current Government House, Kanu clarified,
“And let me debunk another lie. Before now, they said that the current Government House was a rented apartment. But it is not a rented apartment. That property was acquired, duly acquired by the 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.”
He criticized the structure at Ogurube Layout, stating that although the previous administration claimed the building had been completed and commissioned, it was neither livable nor originally intended as a residential property.
“This place appears inhabitable. There are no wardrobes anywhere. Most of what we saw were just halls, empty halls.”
“Did anybody see any wardrobe on any of the floors? There were no wardrobes. So this place was never meant to be a residential house.”
Kanu questioned the intentions of those who designed the structure, “And one begins to wonder, the person or persons who designed this so-called Government House. One wonders 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 noted that only one floor appeared somewhat complete, while the rest of the building remained unfinished.
“And there is only the first floor that appears to have been finished. The rest of the floors were not finished.”
Kanu also took aim at a former commissioner, accusing him of spreading misinformation.
“Of course, when Dr. Alex Otti spoke about this Government House a few days ago, John Okiyi went to Arise, to, as usual, spew falsehood. Almost everything he said was a lie. Now I brought you people (pressmen) here to see for yourselves and to confirm what Dr. Alex Otti said.”
Describing the site as structurally unsafe, he added, “You can see a lot of the places were not plastered, and the elevator was not installed. The whole place looks dangerous. If anybody missteps there, you can fall through the place to your death.”
Kanu said the previous administration rushed the construction for optics rather than substance.
“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 also raised security concerns about the building’s location, saying it is surrounded by other buildings and poses a risk.
The commissioner urged Abians to ignore misinformation from the opposition and to continue supporting Governor Alex Otti.
“Otti, being a responsible governor, would not allow waste and would never misuse the resources of Abians,” he said.
