The ₦1 Trillion Wonder of Abia

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By Nwafor Oji Awala

I came across a post on a website that nearly made me spill my morning tea: former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, allegedly sentenced to death by hanging for hiding ₦1 trillion in a secret Australian account. If this is true, then history has just been made, not in infrastructure, not in governance, but in the art of public fund embezzlement.


The court, according to the report, thundered that with ₦1 trillion, Abia could have built two airports, a modern railway line, and secured stable electricity. Instead, the projects remained ghostly promises, while the funds embarked on their own international excursion, leaving behind potholes that could swallow cattle and a darkness so permanent it should be declared a heritage site.

But let us pause. This is not ordinary theft. This is Nigerian genius at work. Why stop at ₦1 million or ₦1 billion when you can aim for ₦1 trillion? Ikpeazu, if guilty, must be saluted for ambition. He has taken “budget padding” from arithmetic into astronomy, teleporting the wealth of Abia across continents with the precision of a magician.

Of course, Nigerians are gasping in shock. But should we really be surprised? We are the same people who mourn corruption by day and dance for corrupt men at night when they rain naira notes at weddings. We complain that we lack railways but celebrate a single roundabout tiled with Chinese ceramics as though it were the Great Wall itself. Perhaps we don’t truly hate corruption; we only resent not being invited to share in it.

And now, this supposed death sentence. Will it hold? Or will it hang in the balance, dangling like every other promise of justice in this country? Nigeria has a way of turning “final judgments” into “pending negotiations.” Today a man is condemned, tomorrow he is abroad for medical treatment, and the day after he is appointed chairman of the Anti-Corruption Board, because who is better to fight corruption than a seasoned practitioner?

Ikpeazu’s alleged ₦1 trillion wonder is not an isolated case. For every one governor exposed, nine others are quietly perfecting their own disappearing acts. If Nigeria ever audited all the stolen trillions, the World Bank itself would beg us for a bailout.

So, while some call this “historic justice,” I call it a reminder. A reminder that Nigeria’s greatest industry is not oil, not agriculture, not even Nollywood, but corruption itself, refined, exported, and stored offshore.

Still, I must confess, I am trying to confirm if Ikpeazu was truly sentenced to death. Because in Nigeria, even news of justice often needs its own fact-check.

Nwafor Oji Awala 

(c) Prime Heritage Magazine 

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