End blame game, accept responsibility for sacking Abia workers, Ikpeazu aides urge Otti
By Emma Ogbuehi
Former Commissioner for Information in Abia State, John Okiyi Kalu, has urged Governor Alex Otti to take responsibility for his shortcomings. He made the call as the Chief Press Secretary to the former Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, urged Otti to end his blame game against his predecessor, Okezie Ikpeazu.
Okiyi-Kalu alleged that Otti was trying to use Ikpeazu’s name to justify his alleged incompetence and wickedness toward Abia youths, who were recently sacked from the state civil service.
The former Commissioner made the allegation while responding to questions from newsmen on a recent statement credited to Abia State Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, who accused Ikpeazu of employing ghost workers and backdating their employment letters.
Okiyi-Kalu said it was laughable that after 100 days in office, Otti’s government does not know that a governor does not sign appointment letters and that the use of BVN has eliminated ghosts from the Abia payroll system.
He said: “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 letters 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.”
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He alleged that Abia has an administration that came to power by accident of “Obi wave” without any plan or roadmap to lead the state in a proper direction.
Speaking on the achievements of the Otti-led government after 100 days in office, Okiyi-Kalu said that Abia people were already being conditioned to believe that it is not important for the administration to have any such achievement and to also blame Ikpeazu for that.
“Otti is like every other populist who comes to power without a definite plan for the peace and progress of the people. The only recourse available to such leaders is to sell the notion that their predecessor left so much rot that they have to spend years cleaning”, he said.
He claimed that all the Otti administration has done in terms of roads is to patch small portions of roads like Jubilee in Aba and start work on some Apiam ways leading to nowhere whereas at about the same 100 days period Governor Ikpeazu delivered 6 key road projects in Aba including the Ehere road commissioned by former President Obasanjo
“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”, Okiyi-Kalu, stated.
Ememanka on his own said that 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.
“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?”
