A fresh financial outcry is gathering around Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, following explosive allegations that his administration spent close to ₦20 billion on transportation-related expenses in just two and a half years.
The exposé was made by Mr. Eke O Ako, a Scotland-based Abian social commentator, who has repeatedly accused the Otti administration of financial malfeasance.
MUK TV reports that the revelations come at a sensitive time for the government, barely weeks after public outrage greeted a controversial ₦210 million budgetary provision for a single photocopier, an item the government later blamed on a “typographical error.”
Calling attention to Abia State’s own published financial reports, Eke O Ako alleged that between 2023 and mid-2025, the state and local governments recorded a combined revenue of about ₦1.46 trillion, excluding local government internally generated revenue.
From this pool, he claimed staggering sums were channelled into the governor’s transportation and movement-related expenses.
According to the breakdown he released, ₦10.23 billion was spent on the purchase of vehicles for the governor’s office, ₦870.16 million on vehicle maintenance, ₦2.05 billion on fuelling, ₦4.21 billion on travel costs, and ₦2.19 billion on transport allowance — bringing the total to nearly ₦20 billion.
“Yes, you saw it — over ₦10bn cars purchased for his office, ₦2.05bn for fuelling his vehicles in 2.5 years, ₦870m for maintaining the new cars, ₦4.2bn on ‘transport costs’ and ₦2.2bn for transport allowance in his office,” Eke O Ako said.
He described the spending as outrageous, especially in light of the facts that Governor Otti largely operates from his private residence rather than Government House.
“This is the same governor who works from home, uses his house as an office, but still spends like Abia is running a private airline and a luxury motorcade company,” he added.
The commentator further reduced the figures to what he called a disturbing daily reality.
“Let’s do the simple math: ₦20bn in 2.5 years is over ₦20m per day on transport. How do you defend that in a state where schools are still struggling, roads are collapsing, and ‘smart schools’ are mostly talk?” he asked.
Eke O Ako also pointed out that the ₦20 billion transport figure does not include other major expenditures tied to the governor’s office, including a ₦7.26 billion security vote and ₦16.42 billion reportedly spent on running the office itself.
“So when people say, ‘This is the most corrupt regime we’ve seen,’ you don’t refute with facts, you attack the messenger,” he alleged.
He further claimed that despite reports showing over ₦10 billion spent on vehicles for the governor’s office, many Abians say they cannot even see the vehicles on ground across the state.
“If this is ‘prudence,’ then what is recklessness?” he queried.
The social commentator urged Abians to reject what he described as intimidation of critics and to continue demanding accountability from those in power.
“Abians, stop behaving like questioning your own money is a crime. A government that respects you should not fear scrutiny,” he said.
In a final jab, Eke O Ako claimed that Governor Otti may have spent more on running his office than the ₦117 billion reportedly used to pay Abia civil servants and retirees, raising fresh questions about priorities under the much-touted “New Abia” agenda.
“Because at this rate… we can only pray Abia survives this regime,” he concluded.
As of the time of filing this report, the Abia State Government has not officially responded to the allegations.
