‘Allow Us Serve Abians, Your Failure As Governor Hunting You’ – Otti Replies Ikpeazu Over Pension Law

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has advised his predecessor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu to allow him to serve the people and deliver to Abians the promises he made during the electioneering of 2023.

Otti also said Ikpeazu is being hunted by the past as he failed in his duty as Governor of Abia State.

Speaking through Ferdinand Ekeoma, the Media and Publicity Adviser to the governor, he said as a responsible government, they owe Abians a duty of putting the records straight at all times so that they wouldn’t be accused or judged wrongly on the basis of falsehood being peddled by those who are being hunted by their past misdeeds against the people.

The spokesperson to Ikpeazu in the last administration Mr Onyebuchi Ememanka, had in a statement he personally signed alleged that the report of the repealed law was “mischievously sponsored and couched to give the false impression that Ikpeazu is amongst the former Governors of the state currently receiving pension from the state government”.

The release went further to advise the Otti led-government ” to face the business of governance and desist from engaging in needless media sensationalism”.

Ememanka, also said that the ex-Governor has not received pension from the state government since he left office after completing his tenure on May 29, 2023.

It could be recalled that the State House of Assembly at its sitting on Tuesday March 19th 2024 repealed the law which granted pension to former governors and deputy governors in the state.

To clear the air on the assumptions and insinuations in Ikpeazu’s attack on the governor, Ekeoma in a statement on Thursday stated that, “At no time did Abia State government or her Spokespersons issued any statement mentioning Dr. Ikpeazu or any former Governor with respect to the repealed law. The law is a state policy that would outlive every Governor and Deputy Governor. It is not targeted at any individual or individuals.

“The infantile release and the tone thereof suggests that Ikpeazu is angry over Otti’s decision to repeal the law which has since attracted massive accolades and support from the people.

“Ikpeazu didn’t need to remind Abians that he ‘has not received a dime as pension since leaving office’ because he is not in a position to pay himself. Of course, Governor Otti could not have paid him when the Governor has been busy grappling with the task of trying to clean the mess and clear years of accumulated arrears running into several billions which the former Governor left behind.

“The anger that propelled the issuance of that release suggests that the former Governor was actually expecting to be paid by Governor Otti, just like he, Ikpeazu paid his predecessors.

“As much as we do not begrudge the former Governor for having that expectation that has now been dashed, it is important to remind him that it would be a clear act of injustice for him to be paid when he did not deem it fit as Governor to prioritise the pensions of thousands of senior citizens who are hoping on the intervention of the present Governor for the payment of their accumulated arrears, some of them dating back to 2015.

“Governor Alex Otti is simply thinking of Abians first, hence the luxury of politicians remains secondary.

“Dr. Ikpeazu and his aides know very well that Governor Otti is facing governance with seriousness, sincerity and tenacity which is why the state is swiftly becoming a positive reference point, therefore Governor Otti does not require such unsolicited admonition from the former Governor to realise the need to face governance.

“Just the way Dr. Ikpeazu issued a needless controversial and distorted press statement before the Commissioning of the Geometric Power Plant, and many others he had issued before then, it’s now obvious that these releases are a creation of a complex predicated on the false assumption that he is on a performance contest with Governor Otti.

“As much as the present government is poised and prepared to correct every wrong that was done by the previous government and recover whatever that was allegedly looted, we have however refused to personalise our policies and actions, just as we have intentionally refused to make Ikpeazu or any other former Governor a subject of public discourse.

“We therefore wonder why Ikpeazu is consistently in this panic mode which has created an infantile obsession that sees him either churning out false data of what he left behind or laying claim to what he never did.

“Finally, we wish to assure Dr. Ikpeazu and others with a similar mindset that Governor Otti is here to serve all citizens equally, irrespective of class.

“We wish to also remind him that no leader can perpetually convince the people of his performance by mere rhetoric, no matter how much he intends to distort facts, so he should quit struggling to convince Abians that he did wonders as Governor, but should rather allow Abians be the Judge, after all, Late Dee Sam Mbakwe has no spokesman that reminds the people of his achievements as Governor, yet the people consistently remember his achievements and are celebrating him unconditionally”.