‘No Responsible Government Will Allow It’ – Abia Govt Exposes Ikpeazu’s ‘Illegal’ Employment

The Abia State Government has accused the former Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, of employing many workers between December 2022 and April 2023, whose appointment letters it said were backdated to legitimize the deal.

Naija News learnt that the state Commissioner for Information and Culture, Okey Kanu, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Umuahia after an Executive Council meeting.

Kanu denied reports that the administration of Governor Alex Otti carried out a mass sack of the civil service to the tune of about 10,000 workers, saying that the figures were not in conjunction with reality.

He said the recently laid-off workers were employed through the back door between December 2022 to April 2023 by Ikpeazu, stressing that the former administration used the employment of such persons to pile undue pressure on Otti’s government.

Kanu also disclosed that some workers whose names were thrown up as ghost workers during a verification exercise in the State were also affected by the sack, and Otti’s administration sacked no genuine worker.

He urged citizens to disregard the reports that the State sacked legally employed staff, adding that the present administration would clear all salary and pension arrears in the State.

He said, “This group comprised those who were illegally employed from December 2022 and up until March and April this year, long after the current governor had been declared as the duly elected governor of the State.

“Some of those in this category had their appointment letters backdated. Their employment was surreptitious and a bait with which to pile undue pressure on the then-incoming administration of Alex Otti.

“No responsible government will allow such a situation”