A prominent leader of the Labour Party, LP, in the Ukwa West Local Government Area, Mr. Philemon Asonye Ogbonna has alleged that the Abia State Peoples Development Party, PDP, that was in charge of governance in the State had the penchant to employ people before elections and sacking them months after the elections.
He accused the PDP Government in Abia State, under Okezie Ikpeazu of recruiting Abians in January 2019 into the State Civil service, few weeks to the general elections, and sacked them seven months after without salaries after he won the elections, and formed his government.
Speaking to Newsportal on Monday, Ogbonna, who is a Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, described as unnecessary the various attacks on the government of Otti which has not marked its one month in office for taking a stand that those employed into the Abia State civil service in January, barely two months to the 2023 governoship elections would not be recognised as staff of the Abia State government, adding that it was ridiculous that some persons instead of commending the Otti led government were busy hurling insults at the administration.
He stated that the immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu deliberately employed workers even while owing many months of outstanding salaries to cause problems for whosoever was going to take over from his party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, since it was evident that there was no way his party could have won the gubernatorial election in the State because of its abysmal performance, adding that the employment was at best a strategy to win votes.
Ogbonna pointed out that even if the PDP had won the Abia State gubernatorial election, those employed in January this year would still have suffered the same fate of dismissal as it happened in 2019.
He said that it should be clear that the Abia State Governor having a rich experience in the private sector would naturally do things differently from his predecessors but in a manner that would benefit Abians.
The LP Chieftain stressed that no entrepreneur would embark on massive recruitment of staff when those in its employment are owed salaries, and the resources available are insufficient, adding that Abia governor coming from an entrepreneurial background would definitely find it unreasonable to retain workers engaged without recourse to the diverse challenges facing the State.
