The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State has urged Governor Alex Otti to come out clean on the issue of pension arrears in the state.
The PDP said that Otti is making unproductive efforts, seeking cheap popularity by peddling lies to confuse and deceive the good but unsuspecting people of Abia State about the pension situation in the state.
Otti’s administration, for some months now, has been in the news for clearing 10 years of pension arrears, but a contrary view from the pensioners in the state reveals that such may not be the case.
Elder Abraham Amah, Abia PDP Vice Chairman/Acting State Publicity Secretary, said that in the last two months, Abia pensioners have been trending for the wrong reasons, wherein Governor Alex Otti claimed that he had cleared their outstanding nine years or ten years pension arrears.
“To show further proof that the claim is false and embellished with visible lies, there are discrepancies in the claim because, Alex Otti, his operatives and the pensioners do not agree on the accurate number of months cleared.
“While his Commissioner for Finance said nine years, Alex Otti, in the United States, said 10 years and pensioners insist that only a certain percentage of the nine months arrears owed them since the inception of the Otti administration were cleared. At this point, we will leave the judgement to discerning Abians”.
Amah said that earlier in the week just ended, the enlarged Executive Council-in-session of the Abia chapter of the National Pensioners Union (NUP) released a statement dissociating itself from any agreement entered between the government and pensioners which purportedly agreed that pensioners forgo all outstanding arrears as a condition for the regular payment of their monthly pension.
The PDP Spokesman said that a few days later, Governor Otti, during a press briefing, responded to claims by the enlarged Executive Council-in-session of the NUP, Abia State chapter, that they never agreed to forfeit their outstanding arrears as a condition for the payment of their monthly pensions and said that it was a huge joke for the NUP to come and claim that it was a mistake and that the section should be expunged.
He went further to accuse Otti of taking advantage of the desperation of the pensioners to insert that obnoxious clause in that agreement, adding that such an action is the height of infidelity, especially as he had promised several times, during the campaigns and after the elections that he would clear any pension arrears he met in office.
“While Abians are distraught and in shock that Governor Alex Otti could arm-twist and deceive desperate pensioners and trick them into signing an agreement that makes them forfeit their outstanding pensions, the Abia PDP is not, because it is typical of Alex Otti but we don’t want to get used to it as many Abians have already.
“And that is why we have a sacred duty to hold him to account for his deeds in office. Everything Alex Otti has touched since he became Abia governor has ended in unnecessary controversy and always proven him as one who is always economical with the truth”.
Amah further said that Otti was not prepared ab initio to pay pension, otherwise he would not have pressured and tricked the leadership of NUP into signing an agreement to forgo its outstanding arrears.
“Did the agreement entered into with the leadership of the NUP expressly say that the government would claim to have paid in full pension arrears that were forfeited because Alex Otti at every given opportunity claimed that he has cleared all outstanding pension arrears in Abia?
“The records are clear that in the eight years of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, which amounts to 96 months, he paid 51 months pension and had an outstanding of 45 months which the NUP has acknowledged several times.
“Abia PDP wonders how 45 months suddenly turned to 9 or 10 years which Alex Otti consistently referenced during his toxic campaigns as an opposition figure. Unfortunately, he has carried on with his lies to the government and does not understand the boundaries between being in opposition and the government.
“Arising from the above, Abia PDP demands an explanation and wants to know where the balance 111 or 99 months are, as Alex Ott claims to have cleared 9 or 10 years arrears and will soon be reflected in Abia State quarterly expenditure records and used to fleece Abians.”
Amah went on to praise what he termed the courage and maturity of the NUP in handling this matter and encouraged it to take the matter to arbitration for a quick resolution, stressing that it is inappropriate to ask one to forgo one’s arrears as a basis for receiving future entitlements.
The PDP also called on Governor Alex Otti to desist from saying that he has cleared all outstanding pension arrears because such a claim is not the true position and urged him to stop using pensioners to promote his self-serving.
