Immediate past provost of the Abia State College of Education, Technical, Arochukwu (ASCETA), who is now an Associate Professor at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU), Dr Philips Nto, has protested the order by the state’s Judicial Panel on Recovery of Government Property to return his official vehicle even when he is still being owed N120 million.
Dr Nto is also sad that the panel did not consider that he was almost rounding off his second term in office when the present Abia State governor, Dr Alex Otti, on assumption of office last year, sacked some heads of state-owned institutions, including ASCETA.
He said that by the government’s extant regulations, he, like other heads of Institutions, was entitled to go with his official vehicle and wondered why the panel did not consider this extant practice.
He also faulted the panel for not considering N120 million debt to him before ordering the recovery of the vehicle.
Worried that the panel issued two conflicting orders on the same matter within two days, Dr Nto said that although he was prepared to obey the panel’s order, the haste with which it was executed made him uncomfortable.
He said: “There seems to be something fishy about the whole drama. An order was issued on Wednesday, giving me one week to return the car, but I am surprised that another order was issued today requesting the immediate return of the same vehicle.”
He said he would believe that he is being persecuted because he worked under the past governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.
Dr Nto, who has returned to Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, from where he was first appointed as Abia State Finance Commissioner before he was redeployed as ACETA Provost, called on Governor Otti “to ensure that some people do not use the panel to fight their personal matter as against the government’s good intentions.
