Coalition of Civil Society Groups, CCSGA, in Abia State, has tasked Governor Alex Otti to investigate the activities of his Special Assistant on Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, Mr. Chimereze Okigbo and his team over complaints of alleged extortion, abuse  of  human  rights and illegal arrest and detention of innocent Abians.


The coalition stated that Okigbo has allegedly been engaging some overzealous policemen and judicial officers to detain and extort people and urged the governor to investigate the allegations and relieve him of his duties as well as prosecute him, if found culpable.


It also called for  an overhaul  of  the state IGR regime under Okigbo to block leakages while the integrity, pedigree and antecedents of the prosecutors and magistrates used in mobile courts across the state should be critically looked into.


The coalition reminded the governor that there were lamentations when Okigbo was appointed SA on IGR following his alleged controversial exit from the same position in a neighbouring state.


In a letter addressed to Governor Otti signed by the Chairman and Secretary, Mr. Johnson Uzor Emeh and Veronica Ijeoma Nwogu, respectively, the coalition said it received a petition from one Mr. Chinonso Nwizu, a staff of Unik D Limited, an Aba-based haulage and logistics company, who was arrested and detained for two days and taken to court by the Police without committing any offence.


The coalition explained that on May 30, Nwizu, who is a manager in the company, got a call from his driver that the company truck had been seized by enforcers of daily tickets in Aba where he was offloading goods, even when the company had bought daily ticket. 


It stated that there is no way to exonerate the government from the suspected fraud except ordering an unbiased investigation of the Abia IGR team under Okigbo.





credit for story, excluding headline belongs to  Vanguard