Governor Alia listed some of the properties, which included government-owned land, vehicles, houses, furniture and other machinery while inaugurating members of the state and local government property committee at the old banquet hall of the government house.
The PUNCH reports that the governor had earlier set up a committee on the recovery of looted government property with former permanent secretary, Hingah Biem as chairman.
A few days after the state government announced the setting up of the committee, Ortom and his deputy, Benson Abounu, had instituted a suit in court to restrain the committee and government from taking any step towards recovery of the property.
As of the time of filing this report, our correspondent was unable to verify if the case had been assigned to a judge.
While inaugurating the committee yesterday, the governor charged the members and the chairman to recover all assets belonging to the state government that had been illegally taken away by the immediate past administration of Ortom.
He said, “It’s not to victimise or witch hunt anybody, but it’s the right thing to do to account for all government assets.”
While stating that he had been receiving allegations of conversion, abuse of and outright stealing of government property, the governor said, “It is appropriate that the committee also determine all functions of government property and assets done between March 1 and May 29, 2023, by various government MDAs without due process.
He insisted that the constitution of the committees became necessary due to the large number of cars that were seen with immediate past government officials but are nowhere to be found.
The chairman of the committee, Hinga Biem, promised not to disappoint the government and the people of the state in the discharge of their duty.
