A source within the Akwa Ibom Government told PREMIUM
TIMES that contrary to Mr. Akpabio’s claim, no former leader of the state has
ever submitted a health bill of N100 million in a year.
Just as the obnoxious N100 million medical largesse was
expunged from Governor Godswill Akpabio’s scandalous pension law, PREMIUM TIMES
can authoritatively report that former Governor of the state, Victor Attah,
received N93 million as health benefits in five years.
The payments were made by Mr. Akpabio to his estranged boss
between June 2007 and November 2012.
Contrary to insinuations that former leaders of the state
were prone to abusing the old law promulgated in 2006, PREMIUM TIMES found that
Mr. Attah had not at any time presented a bill as high as N100 million a year.
A source within the Akwa Ibom Government told PREMIUM TIMES
that contrary to Mr. Akpabio’s claim, no former leader of the state has ever
submitted a health bill of N100 million in a year.
The source further said that Mr. Akpabio habitually
disrespects former leaders of the state and hardly honour their requests for
assistance, adding that the situation might have made the former deputy
governor to file the huge medical claims.
Mr. Akpabio is believed to have initiated the scandalous
pension law to ensure that successive governors of the state do not treat him
with the level of disrespect he has treated his predecessors.
The obscene pension law will provide a lifetime of luxury to
the profligate governor and his family when he leaves office in 2015.
However, a document exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES
showed that the N93 million received by Mr. Attah was spent on his wife,
Allison, who was batted with a six-year terminal kidney condition.
A mother of two, originally from Barbados, Mrs Attah died in
a Lagos hospital in October 2012.
The Government House source in Uyo, recounted how Mr.
Akpabio punished Mr. Attah when he needed help for his ailing wife.
He said the governor and his aides insulted and taunted Mr.
Attah whenever he submitted medical bills for the treatment of the former first
lady, adding that it took months before such bills were paid.
He said, “It was a very tough time for the former governor
when his wife battled a terminal health condition not long after he left
office.
“The governor also insulted Obong Attah and mocked him in
front of his aides and that was why many top officials in the present
administration disrespect the former governor.”
The document obtained by PREIUM TIMES shows that between
June and October, 2007, Mr. Akpabio approved N3, 736,077.40 as medical expenses
and airline charges for medical evacuation of Mrs. Attah.
The money was paid through Zenith Bank cheque No. 00000891
dated January 28, 2008, several months after the bill was filed by the former
governor.
However, the medical bill of the emergency evacuation and
treatment of the former first lady in a London Hospital between September and
December, 2007 which stood at N2,162, 380.00 was refunded on March 11, 2008
through a Zenith Bank cheque No. 00000920.
On July 4, 2008, the government refunded N10, 103, 985.00 to
the former governor, his wife and daughter, for the medical expenses, estacode
allowances incurred during an emergency evacuation of Mrs. Attah to her regular
hospital in London with a Zenith Bank cheque No. 00001010.
The refund of medical expenses for March–November, 2008 as
well as that of September, 2007 and January, 2008, totaling N9, 334, 006.00,
was made to the former governor on April 21, 2009 with a Zenith Bank composite
cheque No. 00001236.
The former first lady’s medical expenses of N7, 752, 953.00
incurred between January and October 2009 as well as June and September, 2008,
was refunded by Mr. Akpabio with Ecobank cheque No.00000043 on January 1, 2010.
For medical expenses incurred between October 2009 and June,
2010, the former governor was refunded N7, 711, 382.00 through a Zenith Bank
cheque No. 00001989 dated August 17, 2010.
The medical bills for August-November 2010 with that of
March 2010 inclusive during which the of the former first lady, Mr. Attah and
her daughter Felicia during an emergency evacuation and treatment in London was
N41, 607, 626.00.
The amount which was the highest Mr. Akpabio ever paid to
the former governor’s family, was remitted through a Zenith Bank cheque No.
00002609, dated March 2, 2011.
However, from November 2010 to June, 2011, the state
government refunded a total of N7, 431, 340.00 to the former governor through a
United Bank for Africa’s cheque No. 00000111 on July 18, 2012.
The last medical refunds paid to Mr. Attah through a Zenith
Bank cheque No. 00005762 and dated November 7, 2012 was N3, 165, 954.00 and was
incurred between May-July, 2012.
When PREMIUM TIMES called Mr. Attah to comment on the issue,
he said he was at the National Conference and should be contacted later in the
day.
However, subsequent calls to his mobile telephone did not
connect as the line was permanently switched off.
However, Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Information and
Communications, Aniekan Umana, told PREMIUM TIMES that there was no basis for
continuing reporting on the scandalous pension law after it has been amended to
reflect the wishes of the people of the state.
He insisted that similar laws existed in other states and
urged the newspaper to also focus on some of those states. (PREMIUM TIMES had
reviewed similar laws in Lagos, Rivers, Gombe, Zamfara, among others).
“What is the contention here,” Mr. Umana began, “the bill
has been repealed and the status quo ante prevails. There is nothing to talk
about. You should be focusing on what the situation is now.
“Let’s look at Nigeria because I don’t know what the
interest in Akwa Ibom is all about. What is the law in Lagos State, what is the
law in Abia, what is the law in Akwa Ibom? What is the law in every other
place?
“If people say they don’t want a particular provision of the
law and the governor proposed an amendment and the house passed it, and the
situation returned to status quo ante, there is nothing to talk about.
“There is no issue between the governor and Attah or between
Attah and the government. There is no argument over anything. Nobody is talking
about that.”
Asked whether the newspaper should conclude that Mr. Attah
got N93 million in five years since there was no argument about the issue, Mr.
Umana said he did not know how much was paid the former governor during the
period under review.
Again asked whether he ever issued a document explaining how
much the government gave to Mr. Attah after the death of the former first lady,
Mr. Umana said he had to see the document to confirm that he issued it.
“I have to see the document to know whether I issued it or
not. But if any former governor claims he never got money, that will be
incorrect because that is what the law says.
“The law provides for that. There is no contention about
what was given. I don’t know what the interest is in the former governor or
governor of Akwa Ibom State. There is no contention and the state government
will always obey the law.
“But we will not run the state on the opinion of anybody. It
is based on the law and so whatever the law provides for. If a law is made and
there is a public opinion that it should not be, then it was repealed, I don’t
know what the issue is.
“The governor of Akwa Ibom State respects the law. We will
continue to be on the side of the law and the people but we will not join
issues with anybody who is trying to make an issue out of nothing.”
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