Ebonyi denies owing consulting firm

The Ebonyi State Government, on Wednesday, denied contracting and owing a consulting firm, Andrew Bishopton Nig Ltd, saying the claim by the later in court was baseless and unfounded.

The state government alleged that representaves of the organisation had at various times, confessed it never had any contractual agreement with the state.

The Commissoner for Information, in the state, Uchenna Orji, stated this during a press conference in Abakaliki.

Advertisement

A court in Ebonyi State had requested the Central Bank of Nigeria to deduct N40billion from Ebonyi State allocation as part of repayment to the consulting firm after the firm claimed the Ebonyi State Government reportedly contracted the company in 2016 to pursue and recover monies illegally deducted on both its foreign and local loans and facilities especially the Paris club refund.

The firm, it was gathered, approached the court following the state government’s alleged reluctance to keep to the agreed contract terms, a development that led to the illegal arrest and detention of a senior staff of the consultancy organisation, Mrs Jackie Ikeotuonye, by the state.

But the state government, on Wednesday, said, “The attention of Ebonyi State Government has been drawn to a trending publication credited to one firm known as and called Andrew Bishopton Nig. Limited and its partners, Mauritz Walton Nig Ltd claiming that they got order of the court to garnish the accounts of Ebonyi State Government.

“The general public is enjoined to discountenance the claims thereof as shenanigans of unscrupulous elements who are on a forum shopping over a clearly and notoriously baseless allegation of performing consultancy services for the government of Ebonyi, and please discard their claims as vaulting ambitions of greedy people who are on fruitless enterprise and wild-goose chase looking undeservedly for funds meant for the development of Ebonyi State.

“The state government had in different communications extracted confessions from the representatives of Andrew Bishopton Nig Limited to the effect that the said company and its partners acted in bad faith and had no contractual basis to make claims against the state government and/or the local government councils in the state in respect of any transaction executed or services rendered whatsoever for or on behalf of the state government and/or local government areas in the state.”