₦airaland Forum

The immediate past Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu says his attention has been drawn to what he called yet another very reckless statement made by the administration of Governor Alex Otti.

"In what has become a dangerous obsession, the Otti administration has become incurably unable to do anything without looking for any possible means to blame the Ikpeazu administration, even for things that make absolutely no sense", spokesman of the former Governor Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka said in a statement.

He said the latest ploy of this administration is to blame former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for their decision to sack several thousands of workers from the Abia State Civil Service.

In a statement credited to one Okey Kanu, Commissioner for Information in the Otti administration of Abia State, he attributed the decision of the Otti administration to sack these workers to Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu whom he accused of employing people "illegally".

According to the former Governor's Spokesperson, it is disturbing that someone who speaks for a state government is blatantly ignorant of the workings of government.

He said, "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 salary?

"According to the statement under review, Mr Kanu accused the Ikpeazu administration of "employing people through the back door and backdating employment letters given to them".

"This statement is ridiculous and preposterous. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

"The Ikpeazu administration had absolutely no reason to backdate any employment letter issued to any person employed in the State Civil Service. The reason is simple. Ikpeazu remained the Governor of Abia State till the midnight of 28th May, 2023, and by that token, all administrative actions he took within that period were covered with the robe of legality.

"Even speaking from a purely legal perspective, all actions taken by a sitting Governor enjoy the presumption of legality.

"One of the powers of a State Governor is the grant of waiver for employment to the people of the State. Dr Ikpeazu as Governor duly exercised this power for the benefit of teeming Abia youths and had absolutely no apologies to anyone for that action. One of the most important responsibilities of government is to provide employment opportunities to the citizens of the State. Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is proud to have taken that decision to create jobs for our people. If Governor Alex Otti has chosen to sack these workers who were duly employed, then he must accept full responsibility for that decision and not blame another person for his indiscretions. It is as simple as that.

"The point must be made that contrary to the falsehood contained in the statement made by the Commissioner, these people who have now been sacked by Otti were employed under clearly defined due process supervised by the State Civil Service Commission.

"There is not any single person employed into the State Civil Service whose employment did not go through the Civil Service Commission whose statutory responsibility it is to manage the process of employment into the State Civil Service. The records are there.

"Unknown to this Commissioner who appears to be totally ignorant of the workings of the Civil Service, the process of employment into the Civil Service takes quite some time and doesn't happen automatically.

"First, the state government under Ikpeazu introduced biometrics in the assessment of the actual number of workers in the State Civil Service and this revealed several valid vacancies which led to the commencement of the processes for filling them.

"Qualified Abians were offered employment into the Civil Service and were being maintained until this new administration came and sacked these workers, treating them as if they committed any offence by accepting employment from a sitting administration in the State.

"The simple truth is that Governor Alex Otti came into government with overflowing vendetta in his heart which he has exhibited without any inhibitions whatsoever. What of the Permanent Secretaries he sacked from office? Were they employed by Ikpeazu too?

"This is the first time in the history of our State and indeed anywhere in the country that a new administration came into office and sacked the entire Body of Permanent Secretaries together with the Head of Service, leaving only 2 Permanent Secretaries.

"Such arbitrary display of raw totalitarianism is strange to the public service where careers enjoy substantial stability. There are clear procedures to be followed in sacking a Civil Servant under the Civil Service Rules.

"These Permanent Secretaries were issued no queries, they had no subsisting displinary cases, they just woke up one morning and heard over the radio that they have been removed from office. These are men and women who have served the State all their working lives. They have reached the pinnacle of their careers only to be kicked out like common casual workers. Was that Ikpeazu's fault too?

"Meanwhile, Otti brought the current Accountant General of the State from an Insurance Company in Lagos, ignored all known rules of public service and made her Accountant General. When it became clear to him that he had committed a massive blunder, he quickly granted waiver for her to be employed as a Level 16 Civil Servant without going through the Civil Service Commission. This is the height of hypocrisy!

"One other distinctive feature of the Civil Service is respect for Seniority. When Otti removed the State Head of Service from office together with the Permanent Secretaries, he ignored all known rules of seniority and took a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Education and named her Head of Service, bypassing all serving Directors in the State Civil Service.

"Funny enough, the lady who is now Head of Service became a Deputy Director in the Service by virtue of the Command Promotion given by the TA Orji administration in the State, which Dr Ikpeazu upheld upon assumption of office as Governor. But Otti came in and nullified command promotions given to Abia workers by the Ikpeazu administration.

"Otti's penchant for sacking of workers should not come as a surprise to any close watcher of his professional life.

"Otti spent his entire working life as a banker. The modus operandi of banks are well known. They are set up primarily to make profit and do not, by any stretch of the imagination, run on the principle of welfarism which governments stand for.

"Once banks are under any form of financial pressures, the first casualty is always the worker. Laying off, sacking, downsizing and rightsizing of the work force is synonymous with banks and their overzealous capitalist tendencies.

"This is exactly the mindset Otti came into governance with. Sack workers and keep the wage bill manageable. Simple!

"Within the first 100 days of his administration, Otti has sacked close to 10,000 workers across various strata of the State workforce.

"Perhaps, the most disturbing aspect is that they declare human beings who come to work every day as Ghost workers!

"These people have come out in the open to complain and cry, yet in the books of Otti and his administration, they are ghost workers, simply because they could not be captured by the contractors they brought from Lagos with their strange technology!

"A good case in point is the case of workers in the Abia State Liason Offices in Lagos and Abuja. They were all mandated to come to Umuahia for physical verification. Some of the workers are drivers and other junior workers who earn about 40,000 per month. They came to Umuahia and were kept for about 5 days unattended to and without any plans to offer them any form of assistance in terms of accommodation and food .When they elected to return to their stations, they suddenly became Ghost Workers.

"The gale of complaints from workers who beseige the office of the Accountant General on a daily basis to complain about being branded Ghost Workers is clear evidence of a badly managed process.

"Otti must take responsibility for his decision to sack workers. Ikpeazu has no hand in it. Ikpeazu employed them and paid them salaries from the time they were hired. It is common knowledge that workers in the State Ministries received their salaries regularly under Ikpeazu up until March 2023 when that judgment of an Abuja High Court froze the accounts of the State Government. Ikpeazu's salary obligations to workers in the State Civil Service was up to the month of April 2023. While he paid Local Government workers up to that month, workers in the State Civil Service were only owed for one month, April 2023!

"We concede that we had some gaps in the salaries of some agencies of government and pensions but the situation was not as bad as the people were meant to believe.

"Ikpeazu battled to pay salaries to workers even with the dwindling revenue profile of the State. Today, on account of the removal of Petroleum Subsidies by the Federal Government, Otti has received in three months what Ikpeazu never got in almost one year, yet he chose to sack workers!

Source: https://abntv.com.ng/news/face-your-job-stop-blaming-me-for-your-inability-to-do-anything-ikpeazu-hits-gov-otti/

Ikpeazu you go explain taya.Your government was useless.You owe civil servants 30 months and employed 5 thousand more just before the end of your tenure.

In their eyes it's acceptable for their only governor to blame ikpeazu but jagaban can't blame buhari, selfish set of people...

Abians deserve a world record!

Lots are specialist in electing incompetent leaders!

Only in Abia will a Portable win an election against a Davido.

Their lone ranger governor can't do anything

izonborn098:
In their eyes it's acceptable for there only governor to blame ikpeazu but jagaban can't blame buhari, selfish set of people...

We have Otti's projects. None from Jagaban yet. Secondly Jagaban and Buhari are from same party

Is it not the same governor that built ordinary gutter and less than 100m of cement filling that his minions are celebrating the other time?


I don’t believe this one. How can one sack 10,000 workers just like that? What is Abia state workforce count and what percentage is that 10,000 workers which was alleged to be the number of ghost workers according to this report.

"This is exactly the mindset Otti came into governance with. Sack workers and keep the wage bill manageable. Simple!

"Within the first 100 days of his administration, Otti has sacked close to 10,000 workers across various strata of the State workforce.

LegendHero:
Is it not the same governor that built ordinary gutter and less than 100m of cement filling that his minions are celebrating the other time?

The governor is transforming all inner streets in Aba. We are yet to see anything from other governors

igwebuike01:
We have Otti's projects. None from Jagaban yet. Secondly Jagaban and Buhari are from same party

asking that question alone shows u are so bias....

LegendHero:
Is it not the same governor that built ordinary gutter and less than 100m of cement filling that his minions are celebrating the other time?


I don’t believe this one. How can one sack 10,000 workers just like that? What is Abia state workforce count and what percentage is that 10,000 workers which was alleged to be the number of ghost workers according to this report.

Those are PDP stomach infrastructure boys draining Abia purse. If another party win Lagos you will understand

igwebuike01:
The governor is transforming all inner streets in Aba. We are yet to see anything from other governors

Can you show us the inner street transformed by the governor? Except maybe I’m wrong. The only thing I saw is one of those less than 1km of road he built with the gutter photo .

Maybe they are more than what I saw shar. Coz even a local government council chairman won’t brag with that road I saw let alone a governor.

izonborn098:
asking that question alone shows u are so bias....

Tinubu can't blame Buhari that he supported for 8years. Unlike Otti who fought PDP and defeated them after being robbed twice

igwebuike01:
Those are PDP stomach infrastructure boys draining Abia purse. If another party win Lagos you will understand

Oh okay. Then why did they claim they were ghost workers?

He should have been honest and say I sack this workers because they are PDP.

By the way, are they not Abia indigenes? What do you mean by PDP workers?

Except maybe the past governor did not follow due process in recruiting them.

Excuses don start. Na why I don't believe in people forming saint be this.

U see the erros and mistake before u go for the job, so u are not there to complain like baba Buhari who use 8 yrs blaming PDP.

Shameless Governor.
Mr kerosene

Ikpeazu is obviously mad

Lol una problem....


Na jus blame left nd right dem no dey see Dem sef probe...

paramakina202:
Ikpeazu you go explain taya.Your government was useless.You owe civil servants 30 months and employed 5 thousand more just before the end of your tenure.

stop blaming ikpasu.
Ikpasu was still the best governor in south east since 1999 until hellup demons used propaganda and evil ways to kick him out.


When will otti start paying workers and doing magic?

LegendHero:
Can you show us the inner street transformed by the governor? Except maybe I’m wrong. The only thing I saw is one of those less than 1km of road he built with the gutter photo .

Maybe they are more than what I saw shar. Coz even a local government council chairman won’t brag with that road I saw let alone a governor.

Otti's bulldozer are roaring all over Abia. This is why you should uninstall the structure of corruption from your state

Fool dn get mouth

That state need an energized action governor to turn things around there.

Different people in governance.
1. People who knows d in and out of d politics but are there to steal eg Tinubu
2. People with good minds but don't know d politics. Buhari, Jonathan, Obi
3. People who knows d politics and still have fair minds. Eg Babangida, Atiku Abubakar

igwebuike01:
Tinubu can't blame Buhari that he supported for 8years. Unlike Otti who fought PDP and defeated them after being robbed twice

tinubu can't blame buhari because he support him, then what give otti the right to blame ikpeazu when he didn't even support him...
That means peter obi would have blame buhari because he didn't support him' can u listen to urself.... And u said he is the messiah...

igwebuike01:
Otti's bulldozer are roaring all over Abia. This is why you should uninstall the structure of corruption from your state

So that is what he did?

Even for Kano bulldozer dey roll too. Even Wike that is just a few weeks old is rolling bulldozer in FCT.

No be to enter the bulldozer, then start the engine and roar it?

People are talking Kerosene former governor is talking

izonborn098:
In their eyes it's acceptable for there only governor to blame ikpeazu but jagaban can't blame buhari, selfish set of people...

Is pdp the same as labour party? How old are you self cos my prediction is u were around early 2000

Buhari, with the help of Lai Mohammed, blamed Jonathan for not doing a damn thing in the first tenure... Before proceeding to spend the entire second one blaming Covid-19.

Tinubu and his folks are currently blaming Buhari's poor leadership for their woes... After Jagaban is done, his successor will blame him too, and so on.

Nigerians just hate taking responsibility for anything.

So, Mr. Kerosene-sharing Predecessor, shut the fvck up and collect your blames.

The typical African is clueless when it comes to governance

izonborn098:
tinubu can't blame buhari because he support him, then what give otti the right to blame ikpeazu when he didn't even support him...
That means peter obi would have blame buhari because he didn't support him' can u listen to urself.... And u said he is the messiah...

Omo. You are CORNfused