Abia Govt berates Alex Otti for accusing Ikpeazu of weaponzing hunger

The Abia State Government has berated Dr. Alex Otti, the governorship flagbearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, during the last general election in the state, over his recent claim that the current administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, has weaponized hunger in the state.

The Commissioner for Information in the state, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, while reacting in a statement issued to reporters in Umuahia, the state capital, Tuesday, lambasted Otti over his continued launch of media onslaught against Ikpeazu-led government, which he (Kalu) claimed was aimed at deceiving gullible Abia people as well as portraying the governor as non-performing leader.

He insisted that the current administration has enhanced good living of the civil servants, adding that majority of the state workers were better remunerated than their counterparts in other states in South East zone.

Kalu, however, maintained that the APGA chieftain’s wrong assertions in the affairs of Abia State was borne out of political vendetta over his (Otti)alleged failure to fly the governorship seat ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015 election.

Parts of the statement read, “Otti started his political journey with attempts aimed at deceiving and misrepresenting his actual place of origin by abandoning his multi-million Naira personal country home in Arochukwu where he lived to relocate to Isiala Ngwa when he learned that the 2015 Governor of Abia State would emerge from Ngwa area of Abia State in line with Abia Charter of Equity, and since then he has perfected the art of lying, deceit and destruction of whatever he touches.

“Otti launched his campaign at Aba by lying to the people that he, as a private citizen, obtained a loan of $100bn from International Finance Corporation (IFC) to rebuild Aba even when, as a former banker, he must have known that individuals cannot obtain loans on behalf of a state government. Since then he has not accounted for the money even after he claimed that he only borrowed $100m as against $100b. That was only the beginning of the putrid litany of lies, deceit and sheer mischief that characterized Otti’s dead on arrival attempt to appropriate the Governorship seat by all means.

“Without consideration for the progress and well-being of Abians, Otti ill advisedly chose to challenge the re-election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in court to principally remain relevant in Abia politics, distract the Governor from performing his duties and indeed punish the people of Abia State for refusing to elect him their Governor.

“The latest attempt to lie and deceive by Otti is aptly captured in his latest press statement that “Ikpeazu-led government has weaponized hunger in Abia”, wherein he lied, as usual, that the Governor hired a crowd of supporters to attend the tribunal adoption hearing on Thursday September 29, 2019, who abused him for desperately seeking to be Abia Governor.

“I have it on good authority that Otti also sponsored renegade pensioners and protest-for-cash urchins to mount a failed protest on the day of the tribunal sitting in order to embarrass the Governor in the media and score cheap political point that surely won’t have any bearing to the ruling of the tribunal which is expected to be based on law and evidence adduced by the parties in the matter. It is a fact that the members and leaders of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Abia State Chapter, are currently discussing with the government on how to clear their outstanding wages, some of which obviously did not emanate from this administration.

“On Saturday, 31st of August 2019, Abia State workers in state Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who make up more than 70% of the state workforce started receiving their August 2019 salaries and I make bold to state that they are not owed any month of salary arrears. Yet, Otti will deceitfully have you believe that “Abia workers are owed 32 months salary arrears”.

“I challenge Alex Chioma Otti to show where the law permits state or federal governments to directly pay wages of workers in parastatals. Yet we have made interventions to support our ailing parastatals through payment of subventions and others even as we also place on record that more than 60% of our state parastatals are up to date with salary payment.

“Just like his allegation that we have received the last tranche of Paris Club Refund and mismanaged it bother on mischief making. We are yet to receive the last tranche of Paris Club Refunds and we are proud of the fact that both ICPC and members of Nigeria Governors Forum applauded the transparent management of previous refund receipts.”