The Government of Abia State has berated those it described as “Sore Mischief Makers”, advising the public to ignore them.

It spoke as Governor Okezie Ikpeazu returned to the state in the later hours of yesterday, Friday, March 20, 2020, and at the height of rumours that he had been quarantined in the United States of America (USA) over alleged suspicion of coronavirus infection.

Abia Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, confirmed to News Express on Saturday afternoon that “The Governor is back” and would soon be addressing a press conference at the Government House, Umuahia.

Clearing air on the Governor’s weeks-long absence from the state, Okiyi had said in a statement issued yesterday: “Governor Okezie Ikpeazu attended an event in USA involving a close family member and left the country on the 12th of March, 2020, to join the Chairman of Abia State Scholarship Board, Ambassador Empire Kanu, to anchor a meeting between the state and management teams of some key educational institutions in Australia with regard to the State’s Foreign Scholarship Scheme.

“The highly successful engagements in Australia sought to secure scholarships and placements for young Abians in those institutions as well as secure jobs for them while studying in the country. Among those met by Governor Ikpeazu was the Pro-Vice Chancellor (International Affairs) of Flinders University, Mr Sebastian Raneskold, and they have offered Postgraduate Scholarships to 20 Abians in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) areas. Discussions between the parties covered opportunity for work and learning as well as subsidies in accommodation for our prospective students there.

“Governor Ikpeazu was originally scheduled to return to Nigeria today, Friday, 20th of March, 2020, to attend Vanguard Personality Awards in Lagos where he was nominated to receive an Award as “Governor of the Year 2019”. That program has been postponed by the organizers due to the recent ban on gathering of more than 50 persons by the Lagos State Government but Governor Ikpeazu will still arrive today and subsequently move to Abia State to personally take charge of our efforts to protect our people from COVID-19 pandemic.

“Kindly ignore the mischief making by persons and blogs sponsored by a sore Abia politician who continues to engage in activities deliberately conceived to deceive, regularly churn out malicious articles to disrupt the peace being enjoyed in the state, peddle outright and cheap falsehood to mislead the gullible and continue to sponsor all kinds of negatives against the state ostensibly because the good people of our state rejected him twice at the polls.”

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