The Abia State Government says it will convert the proposed new Government House at Ogurube Layout, Umuahia, into a five-star hotel.
The Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, said this during a media tour of the site on Thursday.
Kanu also revealed that a new governor’s office and lodge will be built at the current Government House Complex.
He addressed claims that the current Government House is rented, saying, “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.”
The commissioner said the building project, which was claimed to be completed and commissioned by the last administration, is not livable and was never meant to be a residential building.
He stated, “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.
“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.”
Kanu stressed that only one floor appears finished, while the rest are still incomplete.
He added, “And there is only the first floor that appears to have been finished. The rest of the floors were not finished.”
He also accused a former commissioner, John Okiyi Kalu, of spreading false information.
“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.”
He described the building as unsafe.
He said, “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 government rushed the construction just to impress the public.
“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 noted that the location of the building poses security risks because it is surrounded by other buildings.
He called on Abians to ignore the opposition and keep supporting Otti.
“Otti, being a responsible governor, would not allow waste and would never misuse the resources of Abians,” he said.
