The camps of Abia State governor-elect, Mr Alex Otti and that of the outgoing governor, Okezie Ikpeazu have been engaged in a war of words over alleged ongoing employment racketeering in the state civil service.
The special adviser on media and publicity to Otti, Ferdinand Ekeoma, fired the first shot yesterday when he said “the employment racketeering” was going on ahead of the expiration of the tenure of the Ikpeazu administration.
Ekeoma stated this in a statement entitled “Employment racketeering in Abia Civil Service: Abia State governor-elect cautions outgoing government” which was sighted by LEADERSHIP in Umuahia, the state capital.
The statement said there is empirical evidence that the employment, which he described as illegal, was going on in different ministries and parastatals, with the employees being issued with backdated employment letters.
“This action which is geared towards laying a needless landmine for the in-coming government of Alex Otti, has shown how unpatriotic and selfish the perpetrators are,” the statement noted.
It, therefore, called on those “who are directly or indirectly involved in this crime to please back out of it, as we also call on the government to rise to the occasion.”
In a swift reaction to the allegation in his own statement also sighted by LEADERSHIP, the chief press secretary to the outgoing governor, Onyebuchi Ememanka said Ikpeazu is not aware of the development.
But, the statement entitled: “Alex Otti should patiently wait for May 29”, reminded him “that there is a government fully in place in Abia State with executive powers to run the affairs of the state.
“It is absolutely preposterous and outrightly anachronistic for the media team of the governor-elect to use the word illegal to describe the activities of a government that is legitimately in office.
“Assuming, though by no means conceding that the state government offered employment to Abians, what is illegal about it?
“Within this period, the governor is still enabled by all laws in this country to exercise the full powers of his office, including the power to grant employment waivers to the state workforce, if he so desires.
“What Otti can do, at best, is to review such executive actions after he is sworn in on the 29th of May. Anything else from him at this time is of no effect whatsoever.”
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