Ex-Commissioner, Ikpeazu’s CPS, lament hardship under Otti, urge gov to take responsibility

A former Commissioner for Information in Abia State, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, has urged Governor Alex Otti to take responsibility for his shortcomings.

This is as Ikpeazu’s former Chief Press Secretary, Onyebuchi Ememanka, called on Otti to end his blame game against his boss.

Okiyi-Kalu, who spoke while responding to questions from journalists, alleged that Otti was trying to use Ikpeazu’s name to justify his incompetence and wickedness toward Abia youths who were recently sacked from the state civil service.

His response follows statement credited to Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, who accused Ikpeazu of employing ghost workers and backdating their employment letters.

But Okiyi-Kalu said that it was laughable that after 100 days in office, Otti’s administration did not know that a Governor does not sign appointment letters and the use of BVN has totally eliminated ghosts from the Abia payroll system.

“Obviously the Otti administration is constituted by men and women with zero public sector management experience but after 100 days in office, one should expect that they have learned enough to know that a Governor does not sign appointment letters.

“Under Ikpeazu we had a duly constituted civil service commission whose job is to screen and recruit workers after waivers have been issued. It appears to me that Otti is no longer making use of this commission because he has employed workers at various levels, including his new Accountant General and they should all have passed through that commission without Otti signing their appointment letter himself.

“You can’t even talk about backdating because as long as there is a duly approved waiver from the Governor of the state the civil service commission will independently schedule, at their own convenience, to screen and issue appointment letters to those involved.

“Every waiver endorsed by former Governor Ikpeazu remained valid as long as he endorsed before leaving office.  It was not his job to decide when the commission will issue letters and I challenge Otti to publish any of the backdated appointment letters signed by Ikpeazu.”

Okiyi-Kalu said Otti’s administration had received 10 times more funds than Ikpeazu’s had for the same number of months and it is only wickedness and hatred for Abia youths that will make Otti’s administration retrench anyone qualified and validly recruited through the civil service commission.

“The interesting part is that they are sacking those people after physically verifying all of them to confirm that they are not ghosts and what has happened is that while Ikpeazu was intentional about job creation Otti, is obviously intentional about sacking Abia youths.

“It is also not possible to have ghost workers, as strictly defined, because every worker is paid using a bank account and BVN. What we have is a government that is trying to justify vindictiveness and wickedness to Abia youths by hiding behind any available excuse no matter how mundane.

“As journalists practising in Abia State, are there any of you here that have seen the electoral manifesto of Otti and Abia Labour Party before, during and after the 2023 election? Is there any single project this administration has started and completed since taking office more than 100 days ago?

“Aside from blaming Ikpeazu from morning till night and trying to harass those with opposing views into silence what other achievement can you point to since May 29th 2023.”

“All we hear are excuses, blame games and vindictiveness towards those who didn’t support him because they correctly believed that he would turn out to be who he has turned out to be as Governor,” he added.

Ememanka on his own said the Otti administration has become incurably unable to do anything without looking for any possible means to blame the Ikpeazu administration.

He said, “Their latest ploy is to blame the Ikpeazu administration and in particular, former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, for their decision to sack several thousands of workers from the Abia State Civil Service.

“It is disturbing that someone who speaks for a state government is blatantly ignorant of the workings of government. How can actions carried out by a sitting Governor in offering employment to teeming Abians be termed as illegal?

“The term illegality connotes some form of criminality. What is criminal about the decision of an incumbent Governor to offer employment to the people of the State, putting them on the payroll and paying them a salary?”