The  Abia State PDP on Wednesday described as punitive and obnoxious the  directives by Abia Governor Alex Otti for the reversal of all command promotions made in the Abia State public service in the past eight years prior to April 2023. 


"This directive is clearly anti-people and against the Abia State public and civil service rules", the party stated in a release signed by Hon Elder Abraham Amah,  it's Vice Chairman/Acting State Publicity Secretary


The party slammed Gov Otti for his consistently flouting due process in dealing with the Abia Civil Service. According to the party, "A few days after he assumed office as the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti summarily suspended all the permanent secretaries in the civil service without due process and later sacked all of them without recourse to the provisions of the Abia Civil Service rules. 


"A few weeks into his governorship, Alex Otti sacked all civil servants who had served as directors for upwards of eight years, even when they were not due for retirement, 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 past 13 months that he has been 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", it argued 


The PDP further noted that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU branch of the Abia State University, and the organised labour, comprising the  Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC,  the Abia State branch—are spoiling for war with 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. 


It wondered why the governor is always quick to implement other policies from the Federal Government, like the one that has to do with the certification of civil servants. "The selective implementation of policies by this administration is not only barbaric but also unproductive, as it has the potential to affect the morale of workers adversely. 


"Reversing the command promotions made by the previous government, which followed civil rules, is a pathetic anathema that speaks to the continuous destruction of Abia governance structures by Alex Otti, and 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 to cover up by bringing back the sacked civil servants as consultants. 


This Abia PDP argued that it is insensitive Gov  Otti to  reverse the promotions and order the civil servants to return to the 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 a promotion and a salary that workers have built family structures in the past eight years?", it queried 


The PDP urged Gov Otti not destroy the good things he inherited on the altar of hate, and counselled him to have a humane face in dealing with personnel issues, and for the umpteenth time, "...let Alex Otti understand that Abia civil servants are not members of the PDP, and every attempt he makes to take revenge on Abia PDP using Abia civil servants will backfire and fail on his face", it stated