Abia: Two Commissioners Resign From Otti’s Cabinet, PDP Mocks Governor, Says It’s Vote Of No Confidence

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

In a shocking development ,two Commissioners in the Cabinet of the Abia state Government, on Tuesday, July 16 ,2024 parted ways with the administration of Governor Alex Otti. They resigned.

It is not, yet, clear why the Commissioner for Agriculture, Professor Monica Ironkwe and Chima Oriaku, Commissioner for Science and Technology resigned but there are wild speculations.

No official statement has  been issued in that regard by the Abia State Government .

The Commissioners also left without offering any public explanation for their sudden departure from the Cabinet.

But in a somewhat informal reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Ukoha Njoku Ukoha, on Wednesday, said contrary to speculations, the affected Commissioners were not sacked, but voluntarily resigned their appointments.

However in a swift reaction, the opposition Party in the State, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a statement signed by Abraham Amah, its Vice Chairman/Ag. State Publicity Secretary, said the resignation of the two Commissioners has vindicated its concerns regarding accountability and transparency quotient of Governor Otti’s Government.

But speculation is that the two Commissioners may have been  sacked by Governor Alex Otti.

However, The Source findings reveal that the Commissioners were, actually, forced to  resign their positions.

An impeccable source revealed that the decision to ship out the Commissioners was finalized by the Governor after the last Executive Council meeting on Monday July,15.

It was gathered that it might not be totally divorced from the need for the Government to reconcile some hazy developments within the two ministries considered not to be in tandem with the policy trust of the administration.

The latest incident brings to three the number of Commissioners that have so far left Governor Otti’s cabinet within the 13 months of its existence.

Earlier, the erstwhile Commissioner for Health ,Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, was suspended from office. The Government had cited an ongoing inquest into some alleged official misconduct as reason.

The State Governor has, in recent times, repeatedly made it known that he will not hesitate to act ,should any Government officials fall short of the expectations of his administration.

But for the PDP, the resignations are a vote of no confidence in Otti’s administration. Following is the full text of PDP’s reaction.

RESIGNATION OF ALEX OTTI’S COMMISSIONERS VINDICATES PDP’S POSITION ON BOGUS, UNEXPLAINED, AND UNVERIFIABLE EXPENDITURE HEADINGS

“The attention of the Abia PDP has been drawn to the resignation of two commissioners from the cabinet of Abia governor, Alex Otti. The Commissioners are Mr. Chima Oriaku and Prof. Monica Ironkwe, Commissioners for Science & Technology and Agriculture, respectively. This information was contained in a release issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Ukoha Njoku.

“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.

“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.

We call on the good people of Abia State to always demand for accountability from their government and ensure that they remain eternally vigilant for the sake of our hard-earned democracy.

“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.