Dr. Alex Otti, the 2019 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) in Abia state has heavily descended on Governor Okezie Ikpeazu-led administration, claiming that the governor has destroyed all institutions of governance in the state.
He berated the Ikpeazu-led government’s penchant for creating inconsequential agencies and offices, as well as appointing individuals without real job descriptions for political exigencies.
Otti said the inactions of the state government has continued to make mockery of governance and retards development of Abia state.
The APGA chieftain spoke in a press statement issued by his Media Assistant, Ferdinand Ekeoma and made available to reporters in Umuahia, Tuesday evening.
According to the statement which read partly, “The attention of the Alex Otti team has been drawn to a trending Press Release from Abia state government through the Ministry of “Homeland Security” inviting applications from “suitably qualified and able bodied males and females” across the state for recruitment into the state’s “Homeland Security Outfit”
“First, no one can doubt our positive stance where it concerns the need for the security of lives and property of Abians, thus we would have been the first to endorse such a recruitment exercise if the most basic fundamentals had been taken care of, but because we consider the policy as very unserious,unsound and poorly thought-out, we deem it appropriate to voice out our disapproval by stating the following:
“That Abia Has a Security Outfit established by an act of the Abia State House of Assembly.
The said outfit known as the “Abia State Vigilante Services” exists to complement national security agencies, especially the police in fighting crimes in Abia, but very sadly, the welfare of the members of the Abia Vigilante has been so ignored, that many members of the group now resort to molestation and extortion of innocent citizens, especially traders in Aba for economic survival.
“It’s an undisputed fact that no Importer can open/offload his container in Aba without paying a specified amount of money to members of the Abia Vigilante Services. Infact, some members of this Vigilante had approached us in confidence a few months ago to help them call out the government over the neglect of their welfare, but we turned down their request and advised them to approach the Abia State House of Assembly. We directed them to Abia Assembly because we didn’t want the government to falsely accuse us of sponsoring them to oppose the government.
Continuing, “Our question therefore, is, how can a government that has failed to take care of the ordinary welfare of her already existing security outfit embark on the creation of another security agency, as well as recruitment of individuals into same agency with zero structures and no defined welfare package?
“What number of persons does the government want to employ,where are they going to work, and what would be the difference between the “Homeland Security” and the Abia Vigilante Services”? What would be their modus operandi, and how will they be remunerated?
“Since the Ikpeazu led government has become very reckless and careless in owing months of accumulated salary arrears to those they brand “Non Core Civil Servants” in the Abia Civil Service, and since members of the outfit are going to be armed as security agents, what would become the fate of innocent citizens when these security agents are ravaged by hunger as a result of non payment of their salaries by the Ikpeazu led government?
“If the newly created Ministry of Homeland security was not created for leadership braggadocio and for the settlement of the army of unproductive political/ election rigging associates making life miserable for Abians, the Abia Vigilante Services would have been collapsed and integrated into this ministry, and a process of reform and sanitization commenced.
“We want to strongly caution that, security is such a sensitive issue that when handled with carelessness creates a destructive monster that can consume everyone, and having conspiculously shown lack of leadership and empathy in dealing with issues that concern the welfare of Abians, we believe that the Ikpeazu led government is the most unsuitable to talk about setting up a security outfit, let alone carry out a recruitment exercise.
“Finally, we call on the government to halt this exercise, carry out a very intensive consultation and put the necessary institutional mechanism and welfare packages in place before coming up with this exercise, in the interest of our people”.
