ABIA STATE GOVERNMENT’S PHOBIA FOR ALEXOTTI AND THE PLOT TO EVADE JUSTICE.

By Ferdinand Ekeoma

Watching the Popular American Security Diary (Investigative Discovery), I have come to appreciate the immense consequences and effectiveness of “False Lead” in the escape of criminals being trailed by security agents, regrettably, this manipulative anti security strategy seems to have become the most important tool of the members of the destructive Abia Political cabal made up of some Societal Nonconformists, Absolutists and Barbaric Opportunists who are once again desperate in their despicable move to uphold a governorship mandate the people of Abia State never gave them and could not have given them.
After discovering that their illegal activities recently were being monitored by undercover security agents and media men following leakage of information linking them with an alleged failed plot to use Billions of Abia Tax payers money to bribe their way out of their tax forgery mess, the government has since resorted to raising false alarm, threats and misdirected media stunts through the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary and other Media Aides aimed at not only scoring cheap and irrelevant political points, but also to present their perceived foes in bad light, as well as divert the attention of their opponents and security agents while they carry out their futile bribery voyage.


After issuing some inconsequential and ineffective press releases, raising false alarm concerning the so called plots against their government, without reference to empirical facts, and without the expected response from their perceived enemies, Ikpeazu’s Chief Press Secretary Enyinnaya Appolos summarized the tragicomedy with a theatrical kind of Interview granted to an online media recently where the said Appolos dedicated energy that would have been channeled to thinking out creative ideas for the development of Abia state, in spewing mendacious gibberish about their phantom achievements, while ridiculously trying to undermine as well as present their nemesis, Alex Otti as the cause of their poor outing since their inglorious assumption of office via an electoral coup.
When asked about the achievements of the Ikpeazu led government, the CPS reeled out a few roads built by their government and dozens of other roads he claimed were ongoing, but without much ado he jumped to their most difficult but unfinished project, which is Alex Otti, when he said, “He (The Governor) has plans to do more, but it should be noted that within the same period of two years, the governor has been in and out of courts. Of course you are aware that the defeated governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr. Alex Otti went to the tribunal to challenge the election of the governor. That matter ran through all the way to the Supreme Court and immediately after that, when the governor thought everything was over for him to settle and really deliver to Abians the promise he made. But seemingly from nowhere, we had to again face another desperate judicial action by Uche Ogah and Friday Nwosu who were co-aspirants to the PDP ticket in 2014. As we speak, the matter is still pending at the Supreme Court with ruling expected in the Ogah matter in May, while the Nwosu matter is yet to be settled. Even the defeated APGA candidate who hitherto litigated his matter up to the Supreme Court has rejoined the desperate legal bonanza aimed at stealing the mandate Abians freely gave the governor”.

And when asked what the government was doing to checkmate insecurity in the state, Appolos said, “We all know the issue of security is a challenge to governments all over the world; it is not peculiar to Abia. The challenge is fast becoming a moving target requiring continuous improvements to checkmate and we are continuously innovating to meet the challenges of securing our state. Even developed countries like Britain are facing security challenges and am sure you are aware of the recent terror incident in London. I also read the other day that a Divisional Police officer was kidnapped somewhere in Lagos. Imagine a situation where a DPO was kidnapped in a state with possibly the best resources in the country. We are not trying to compare our case with others much as we know that the issues are right there, but like I said, we are doing everything to checkmate rising crime rate that we noticed after the yuletide season. The government has given all kinds of support to the security agencies in the state to do their work effectively. Recently, the governor was at zone 9 headquarters here in Umuahia where he took a tour of their facility and what they have, up till now, the governor of Abia State didn’t know that where we have presently as the headquarters of zone 9 police, is rented property. What the governor did after visiting their temporary Offices at Ehimiri, he moved straight to their proposed permanent site at Ogurube Layout, and he promised that before the end of this year, the zone 9 headquarters permanent site in Umuahia will be ready. More than 30 vehicles with modern communication equipment have been donated to security agencies in the state within the past two years”.


On the arrears of salary owed Abia workers, Ikpeazu’s Chief Press secretary said, “The major cause of where we are today, in terms of salaries, is certainly not because Abia State Governor does not want to pay. It’s because the country as a whole is suffering from economic hardship and that has affected us with reference to revenue inflows” He went further to say, “we are doing everything possible to clear salary and pension arrears in the state. What does not get reported is the fact that more than 80% of our Civil Servants have received at least January Salaries”.
I intentionally wrote down the Chief Press secretary’s responses to the three key questions thrown to him so that the reading public could see the insincerity, gross incompetence and medieval extremism of those presiding over the affairs of Abia State.
When APGA as an opposition party raised an alarm about the insecurity ravaging the state, Ikpeazu’s Vuvuzellas resorted to attacking Alex Otti, but two years down the line, the Ikpeazu led Government is still bold enough to mention the 20 salon cars they gave to the police in 2016 as the massive achievement they recorded in fighting insecurity in Abia since assumption of office, when the Chief Security Officer allegedly goes home with hundreds of millions as monthly security vote. But are we surprised? No we are not, because a General cannot afford to disarm the troops that saved him at the war front, especially when the thought of another selfish war still occupies his mind.
What better defines the tragiccomedy going on in Abia than the statement by Ikpeazu’s CPS that about 80% of Abia Civil Servants have received their January Salaries, when he earlier admitted the receipt of billions of naira in bailout funds and Paris club refunds; Does it mean Ikpeazu and his men do not know that the recession rhetoric they are using as an excuse for failing in their responsibilities, especially in the payment of workers salaries is actually the reason why those funds were released at this point in time? Or could it be that Alex Otti is also tampering with the funds spiritually so that they could unjustly owe Abia workers while they continuously loosen their belts?
Since Ikpeazu’s Government has found Abia worthy of comparison with London, which warranted the CPS’s reference to the recent London terror attack as a justification for what is happening in Abia, I think it would be proper for the CPS to let his readers know about the swift response of security agents in London which led to the killing of the terrorist and rescue of endangered citizens, unlike Abia where dozens of innocent citizens have lost their lives in the last two years while the criminals still use surrounding villages as safe haven without challenge, because the government is careless and clueless about serious measures that should be taken against the hoodlums, but always very proactive at ensuring media blackout of those crimes.



How could a governor’s spokesman abandon simple questions that bother on the achievement of the government he is part of and begin a wild goose chase kind of bulk passing using their nemesis, Alex Otti as a shield when the innocently accused Otti has broken no law by going to seek redress in court as was done even in states where elections were reasonably seen as free and fair, let alone Abia where their 2015 electoral crimes would remain unmatched for decades to come. Why should Ikpeazu and co derive joy in committing electoral and tax frauds against Abians, but refuse to tolerate lawful legal actions aimed at salvaging the people and state they have so cheated?
Where were the irrational agents of this government when Governor Chris Ngige embarked on nationally acclaimed Road Construction Revolution while still having a fierce legal battle with Governor Peter Obi and the Ubas backed by the then FG? Obi’s Government was later refunded the money Ngige’s Government spent on Federal Roads in Anambra, because the government assessed and found those roads standard enough to warrant a refund.
Why would Ikpeazu the offender try to present himself as the offended when the facts of what transpired in Abia remain public knowledge?
In his Poem “The Casualties’’ the great Nigerian Poet, Pa J.P Clerk explained that the casualties were not only those that died or sustained injuries during the Nigerian/Biafra war, but that those who came out unscratched, those who buried the dead, those who looked after the injured, those who died “by installment” etc were all causalities. The reality of Pa Clerk’s poetic rendition later manifested in the life of one of the prominent men who fought the war from the Nigerian side as he was quoted to have miserably shouted later in his life, “The Spirit of Biafra is pursuing me”.


Honestly the resort to mentioning Otti’s name by the officials of Abia Government at every opportunity is not by choice, the Abia Spirit of Divinity in display during the Gubernatorial election and the tears of the suffering masses might after all be hunting the oppressors of Abia. The same spirit came calling in Enugu where Ikpeazu had gone in early 2016 to seek cheap publicity amongst the Adventists, by proclaiming that he had forgiven Alex Otti who contested election against him, to his shock and disbelief, the congregation greeted his provocative statement with humiliating coldness and offensive murmuring, as they angrily starred at him like an Ofala Masquerade. The church members didn’t just dismiss his statement because Otti himself is also an Adventist, but because they knew that the Abia Governorship Election was cleanly and clearly won by Alex Otti, so the earlier Ikpeazu and allies realized that he and his men are also casualties of their unjust actions, the better for them.
As the members of Abia Political Cabal begin this new but last round of “False Lead” political strategy by raising false alarm, media war, blackmail, threats etc, they should realize that there is a new dawn in our judiciary, and Abians feel confidently assured by the promise of the New CJN to sanitize our judiciary as a way of deepening our democracy, saving the suffering masses and sending their oppressors to compulsory retirement.