Ebonyi state chapter of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) has called on state government to release and pay every entitlement accrued to civil servants from Ohaukwu local government area of the state....CONTINUE READING
Governor David Umahi had ordered that salaries of civil servants and political office holders from Effium axis of Ohaukwu LGA be withheld following the kidnap of five engineers with NELAN construction company at the axis.
But PDP in a new year message signed by party chairman, Tochukwu Okorie faulted the decision and asked the state government to rather find the engineers whether dead or alive.
While urging the Umahi led government to leave the workers out of the problem, it challenged the governor confront Insecurity in the state squarely.
The statement reads in part, “We condemn in strong terms the continued seizure of the December salaries of civil servants from the entire Ohaukwu LGA of the state over the crisis rocking a part of the LGA.
There is absolutely no basis for seizing salaries of civil servants on account of insecurity in the area arising from failure of governance at the state level. We urge the state government to release the salaries and other benefits accruing to them without further delay and take responsibility for the cloud of insecurity that continues to hover over the entire state rather than making scapegoats of innocent civil servants.
In the same vein we empathize with these workers for the hunger strike the state government subjected them to in a season that should have everyone celebrating the goodness of God in their lives.
We reiterate our concern over the continued missing of the NELAN engineers supervising construction works on the Abakaliki Ring Road Project – Effium axis.
We urge the state government to up their efforts at finding them either alive or dead and make public the result of their investigations immediately in order to give closure to the grieving families of the victims.
We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the affected companies and families, assuring them that we will continue to lend our voice to the process of unravelling the mystery surrounding their sad disappearance.
We have noticed that the Ebonyi state government has stalled the recruitment exercise into the state’s civil service which it initiated in November, 2021.
We hope that this is in response to the position of the PDP that the exercise was an ambush against the incoming PDP led government in 2023.
If that is the case, we commend the government for dropping the exercise. However, we will not hesitate to expose any underhand dealing that may be going on behind the scenes in respect of that exercise.
Okorie in the statement called on the legal team of the party to initiate process of disbanding the state security outfit, “Ebubeagu security Network” saying the group was assembled as political thugs to fight opposition party in the coming election.
“The Peoples Democratic Party in Ebonyi state will resist this evil plot to the fullest extent of our ability and the law.
