Injunction: We are not aware, we were not served — Abia panel

The Abia State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Government Properties, Funds, and Related Matters said Tuesday that they are not aware of any court injunctions stopping them from sitting or doing their job of recovering looted public properties and funds in the state.

Answering questions from newsmen Tuesday, during the inauguration of the panel in Umuahia, the chairman of the panel, Hon. Justice F. I. Duruoha-Igwe (rtd), said, “The Panel is not aware of any such order from any court in Nigeria.

“No order has been served on me and we are here for the proceeding as permitted by law.”

Earlier in his address, the chairman of the panel noted, “Our task is both investigatory and advisory. It is important to mention that this Panel of Inquiry, though quasi-judicial in nature, is not a Court properly so-called.

“Nobody is on trial; rather, we are here to find out what really happened to the funds and properties (moveable and immoveable) of Abia State between May 2015 and May 2023, and when we do, we shall lay it open and make credible recommendations to the Governor.

“Pursuant to our investigative role, we shall proffer advice to the Governor. I want this to be clear in everybody’s minds. The inquiry or sittings of this Panel shall be held in public”.

The members of the Panel of Inquiry, he said, shall exercise all the powers with regard to obtaining evidence and conducting the proceedings as provided by Section 8 of the Commission of Inquiry Law Vol. I, Cap. 69, Laws of Abia State of Nigeria, 2005.

This includes the power to summon any person in Nigeria to attend any sitting of the Panel to give evidence or produce any document or other thing in his possession, to examine him as a witness, or to require him to produce any document or other thing in his possession, subject to all just exceptions.

“We are mindful of the oath we took to discharge the duties devolving upon us faithfully and impartially. Ours is not an inquisition, and so we shall not carry on as if we have already targeted and branded anybody as guilty”.

Also addressing the panel, the chairman of the Umuahia branch of the Nigeria Bar Association, Barr. Jasper Ejimofor, said, “We are glad that the panel was set up.

We have seen much in Abia in the way properties were converted from public to private she added, adding that most of what the panel wants to recover started in 2015, like the Umuahia main market location, which is now in private hands.

He therefore advised that the period under review should be backdated to 2003, ” while the ills meted to the state should be revisited,” and thanked the state governor, Alex Otti for his wisdom in establishing the panel, adding, ” He has a good intention for the state, which has suffered.”

Similarly, in his speech, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ikechukwu Wanna, said that Abia has witnessed unprecedented looting in the past few years and expressed his happiness that the panel will address the issues that are holding the state back from moving forward.

He called on Abians who witnessed the looting of public properties in the state to be bold enough to send in the materials the panel needs and urged the panel to restrict itself to the May 2015 to May 2023 time frame, after which another phase can come.

The panel was set up on June 27, 2023, by the state governor to, among other things, review the award of contracts, ascertain if government properties were converted to use, and review the allocation and revocation of lands, employments, promotions, appointments, and payments in respect of these.

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