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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State has described the repeal of the Abia state Governors/Deputy Governors Pensions Laws of 2021 by Governor Alex Otti as a pursuit of personal vendetta against perceived political foes, as well as a vain attempt at ego massaging.
The Eastern Updates recalls that the Abia State House of Assembly has last week passed in to law a bill abrogating the payments of pensions to former Governors of the State, as well as their Deputies, citing the need to cut down on cost of governance as a major reason.
The repealed pensions law which has since been hailed by not a few, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as a step in the right direction, was on Wednesday March 20 signed into law by Governor Otti.
But in a statement on Monday by the Abia PDP Spokesperson Comrade Abraham Amah which was obtained by The Eastern Updates, the opposition party in the State, said it has reasons to believe that Governor Otti is using his offices to pursue personal vendetta against the former Governors of the state as shown in this” singular act which has not added value to the Abia treasury”.
The statement noted that, it is on record that the present Government of Abia state has not paid any of the past Governors and their Deputies a dime since coming on board, and therefore, wondered how an administration that has not paid pensions to its predecessors would quickly rush to repeal the law if not to massage its ego.
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Below is the full text of the statement as obtained by The Eastern Updates reports:
“The attention of the Abia PDP has been drawn once again to another attempt by the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti to resort to populism to draw undeserved attention to himself by repealing the Abia Pension Law for former governors, a law he has never obeyed since he assumed office as governor.
“Since the news made its debut, all the former governors through their spokespersons have come out to disclaim having received any pension from the State governor since he assumed office. So it beats our understanding why a governor who has not paid pension to his predecessors would quickly rush to repeal the law if not to massage his little ego and portray himself as a patron Saint when he is not.
“The Abia PDP has reasons to believe that Alex Otti is using his office to pursue personal vendetta against the former governors as shown in this singular act which has not added any value to the Abia treasury. Let us assume that the said pension law and some of its letters are outrageous as it is being portrayed in the public to buy cheap popularity, there is no evidence that the money saved from the non-payment of pension to former governors has been used to offset the pension arrears of Abia pensioners even many civil servants are still being owed. So what is the whole hullabaloo of the repeal of the Pension Law all about if not to shore up a popularity which many Abians have come to see as empty and an enterprise on the pages of newspapers and social media.
“It has become a penchant for governor Alex Otti to go into overdrive in his quest for vendetta and this has been displayed in reckless ways that do not even add any political value to his person. Ordinarily, a man of good conscience who means well for a society of humans would have amended the law to purge any section or sections of the said law which he deems outrageous or inordinate. By outright repeal, is Alex Otti telling Abians that a person who serves Abia State for either four or eight years in such high capacity and highly demanding position as governor and deputy governor does not deserve a pension, no matter how little, to take care of oneself in old age? Is Alex Otti more conscionable than the National Assembly that has allowed the pension of former Presidents to stay? Is he telling Abians that a governor should help himself enough while in office because the State would abandon him/her once he/she leaves office?
“It is very easy to read through Alex Otti’s desperation for self glorification because there are other more pressing issues he should address to show that he is interested in good governance. The Abia PDP challenges Alex Otti to obey the Local Government Autonomy bill passed by Abia House of Assembly. Why is he more interested in repealing the Pension Law when he has since seized the Local Government seals and centralized inflows from Local Governments? Why did he change the nomenclature of Local Government Chairman to a non-constitutional Mayoral system? Why has he not constituted the House of Assembly Service Commission? His inability to focus on these indicates that he is chasing personal glory at the expense of collective good of the masses.
“Some of his hastily thought out laws and policy statements point to the fact that there are some hidden motives which are not altruistic but are churned out to persecute known and unknown enemies and opponents of the governor. About a month ago, governor Alex Otti went on national television, Channels TV to be very precise, to tell the world that Abia State government had no equity participation in the Abia Geometrics Power Plant, days after the promoter of the business, Prof. Barth Nnaji had written him officially to state that the Abia government had subscribed to 3.5% shares in the concern, amounting to N1.4b as at the time it was paid for and currently valued at about N27b with the prevailing naira to dollar exchange rate. What was the blatant denial with executive lie for?
“Abia PDP appreciates the little efforts governor Alex Otti is making to deliver good governance to Abians by building on the foundations laid by his predecessors. What is unacceptable is his efforts to rubbish the honest intentions and best efforts of his predecessors by acting in a manner that suggests that he is the one that is building Abia from scratch. That is an eminent falsehood which is being consciously patterned into a destructive myth by his horde of media merchants and the good people of Abia should not allow that to stay.
“Worst of all is the perception being spread by the same merchants that it is an anathema, a disservice and a crime against Abians to hold Alex Otti to account. The first step to authoritarianism is the destruction of the truth and the building of walls of perfection around a leader who pounces on such fantasies to emasculate contrarians and push the estate into totalitarianism. That is what is happening in Abia and all well meaning Abians should resist it.
“The only way Abians can keep our democracy safe is to hold our governor and his operators to account at all times and push down the walls of infallibility being built around his government.
“We also call on the good people of Abia State to desist from chorusing non-existing performance of Alex Otti, give him accolades for things he has done well and knock him constructively when he errs. No human is infallible.
