Stakeholders want audit of Anambra govt’s accounts

Stakeholders in Anambra state have called on the Auditor-General of the state and the House of Assembly to conduct a comprehensive audit of the state government’s accounts during the tenure of its immediate past governor, Mr. Peter Obi.

The call came as a result of recent media reports quoting the new Governor Willie Obiano as saying that the state was broke.
The stakeholders, under the auspices of Anambra Stakeholders Forum led by Chief Dennis Igweka, said given the fact that Obi told the nation shortly before his handover that he left behind N75 billion in the state coffers, there was the urgent need to audit the state accounts to ascertain the true position of things.

Prior to the hand over, Obi had d disclosed that he left N75 billion in the state’s treasury. That was at the presentation of his report card to the people of Anambra state at the Women Development Centre, Awka.

However, on March 28, this year, Obiano, at a meeting with captains of industry from the state in Awka, reportedly told them that the state was in dire need of funds and requested for financial support to enable him to run the affairs of the state effectively.

The stakeholders, therefore, called on the auditor-general and the House of Assembly to rise up to the occasion by instituting forensic audit of the state’s treasury  which, they said, would include determining if many of the dummy cheques presented to several organisations by Obi were actually redeemed and other commitments entered into by the previous regime.