Aba Geometric Power: “You lied,” The Former Commissioner Confronts Otti On The $3.56 Million Investment Made By Ikpeazu’s Government

Governor Alex Otti has come under fire from John Kalu, the former Commissioner for Information, Trade, and Investment in the administration of former Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, for his remarks regarding the previous administration’s $3.56 million investment in Aba Geometric Power.

This was said by Kalu in a statement on Friday.

Otti questioned in a recent interview with Channels Television what Ikpeaze done with the funds borrowed while he was in office.

In response to Otti’s statement, Kalu asserted that a portion of the borrowed funds included the $3.56 million that the previous government had spent in Aba Geometric Power and that former Minister of Power Barth Nnaji owed.

He mentioned that on February 28, 2024, Nnaji wrote Otti a letter confirming the investment.

The investment, he said, was in the note that was turned over to Otti’s administration on May 29, 2023.

“My attention has been drawn to a statement credited to Governor Alex Otti, through his spokesperson, that his government has received a letter from Prof Barth Nnaji, Chairman/CEO of Geometric Power, that the administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu paid at least $3.56 million to purchase stakes in the company for the people of Abia State.

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“I have also privately sighted the letter written by Prof Barth Nnaji to Governor Alex Otti on February 28 2024, wherein he confirmed that the previous Abia State Government led by Dr Okezie Ikpeazu bought 3.5% equity in Geometric Power.

“While the government of Alex Otti is free to rigmarole to minimize the damage to its battered lying machinery, it must be noted that the government brought this public odium upon itself”, he said.

But Kalu did not go into detail about how his principal used all of the loaned funds while he was in charge.

Remember that the 188 megawatt Aba Geometric Power Plant, the nation’s first privately owned, independent, and integrated power plant, was just put into service with the potential to provide the city with electricity around-the-clock.

In the meantime, there has been debate concerning the current and past Abia state administrations’ contributions to the project.