“Your Action Insensitive, Punitive, Anti-People” – PDP Knocks Gov Otti Over Reversal Of Civil Servants Promotions Years After

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Abia State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused Governor Alex Otti of embarking on a mission to destroy the fabrics of the State Civil Service.

The Party’s alarm is coming on the heels of the reversal of all Command promotion exercises carried out within the Civil Service in the last eight years by the Abia state Government.

A circular from the office of the Head of Service HoS, Ngozi Obioma, on Tuesday July 9, 2024, directed all beneficiaries of Command promotions  between 2015 and 2023 to revert to status quo.

The circular cited the need to restore normalcy to the system as a major reason.

But the PDP has insisted that the move is in bad taste, anti-people and against the ethos of public service.

In a statement issued on Wednesday  July 10, 2024, by its spokesperson Abraham Amah, and made available to The Source, the PDP expressed concern that since mounting the saddle a year ago, the Labour Party, LP-led administration in the State has cultivated the penchant for not following due process in dealing with matters affecting the State Civil Service.

“A few days after he assumed office as the Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, summarily suspended all the Permanent Secretaries in the Civil Service without due process,and later sacked them without recourse to the provisions of the Abia Civil Service rules .

“A few weeks into his Governorship, Dr Alex Otti, sacked all Civil Servants who had served as Directors for upwards of eight years, even when they were not due for retirement.

“He sacked more than 15,000 Abia Civil Servants without following due process and Civil Service rules and subjected the remaining ones to endless verifications with many owed Salaries in the last 13 months that he has been the Governor.

The issue of salary payment has become an existential threat to Abia workers even in the face of increased earnings by the State from the Federation Allocation Account Committee, FAAC.

Presently, two labour unions – the Academic Staff Union Universities ASUU Abia state University branch and the organized labour comprising the NLC ,and TUC both of Abia state branch are spoiling for war with Dr Alex Otti, on account of unpaid salaries in his 13 month tenure and his refusal  to pay the N35,000 wage award approved by the Federal Government” Amah stated.

The Abia PDP said for the Abia Government to reverse the Command promotions that were carried out lawfully ,amounts to a pathetic anathema ,which speaks to the continuous destruction of Abia state governance structure by the Governor.

“This reflects his undying hatred for the PDP ,especially the immediate past Government . Incidentally ,he has failed to learn ,and this is made manifest in the embarrassing mistakes he has made in Government which he has surreptitiously tried in to cover up by bringing back the sacked civil servants as consultants .

“The Abia PDP considers it insensitive that Dr Alex Otti, will reverse the promotion and order  civil servants to return to  prior levels including the reversal of their salary grades ,in the face of excruciating hardship, soaring inflation, an economic downturn and rising food prices .

“Couldn’t the Government have devised another method of implementing this policy going forward than reversing the promotions and salaries that workers have built in the last eight years ?.” the PDP queried .

The Party has, therefore, called on the Governor to apply a humane approach on his dealings with not just civil service matters ,but all other issues that concern the citizenry.

The Party, however, urged  civil servants to continue to engage peacefully and meaningfully with the system for the reversal of all  punitive and anti people policies.