The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Abia State chapter says the resignation of Gov. Alex Otti’s Commissioners on Wednesday has vindicated the party’s position on bogus, unexplained and unverifiable expenditure headings of this administration.
In a statement by Abia PDP Vice Chairman/Acting State Publicity Secretary, Hon. Elder Abraham Amah late Wednesday evening, the party said its attention has been drawn to the resignation of the two commissioners as contained in a release issued by the Chief Press Secretary, CPS to the governor, Mr. Ukoha Njoku.
The Commissioners are Mr. Chima Oriaku – Commissioner for Science and Technology, and Prof. Monica Ironkwe – Commissioner for Agriculture.
According to the statement, “The Abia PDP intel authoritatively revealed that the two commissioners resigned their appointments following disagreements with governor Alex Otti over the huge sums of money that were assigned to expenditure headings within their ministries and the projects which they knew nothing about.
“The two commissioners had in the past months been inundated with questions from journalists and their constituents about the huge sums of money in some expenditure headings in their Ministries quarterly financial reports, which they were unable to explain. It was at this point that they approached the governor for answers which he could not provide and they elected to leave the cabinet with their reputations intact.
“For instance, the States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability SEFTAS Q2 expenditure report, as published by the Abia State government on the state website, indicated that whopping sums of N3.4b and N1.6b were spent on the building of ICT centres and agricultural facilities, respectively, and these commissioners claimed that they knew nothing about them.
“Abia PDP can confirm from very reliable sources that this is the main reason why the two commissioners were pressured to resign and shows a growing display of the governor’s known aversion to tolerance of differing opinions.
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“Recall that Abia PDP had raised alarm several times about the unverifiable expenditure headings found on the SEFTAS, like the ICT building for N3.4n, hospital equipment for N2.6b, agric facilities for N1.6b, and renovation of public schools for N4.7b, and the insensitive spending of N11.5b to run the governor’s office from his private residence, as well as the collection of N927m as security votes monthly for a governor that made a song of “I will not collect security votes as a governor” during the campaigns, among others.
“The circumstances surrounding the resignation of the two commissioners have vindicated the Abia PDP about its concerns regarding the accountability and transparency quotients of this government, which it has always known to be minus zero, and have also spiked more speculations about the imminent reshuffling of the Alex Otti cabinet, which Abia PDP intelligence gathers, has been in confusion and disarray as the commissioners complain that they are not carried along in the direction and execution of policies.
“The resignation of two commissioners within one year of the government of Alex Otti is nothing but a vote of no confidence in his government and growing concerns about his democratic credentials as everything about his government is opaque and shrouded in secrecy.
“The resignations also throw more light on the confusion in the Alex Otti administration, especially as these two commissioners were never queried for any infractions or even misdemeanour, and the fact that the commissioner for health, Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo, who has been on suspension and under investigation, was not sacked or pressured to resign alongside the two that left, and the Finance Commissioner, who made an open boast about collecting Abia’s N10m every month just to go to Abuja for FAAC meetings”.
The party therefore called on Abians “to always demand for accountability from their government and ensure that they remain eternally vigilant for the sake of our hard-earned democracy”, adding, “The Abia PDP will continue to serve as a viral opposition and shadow government to check the opaque nature of this administration, and we call on the good people of Abia to pressure the government to be more responsible and open in the conduct of Abia government business”.
