Otti picks hole in Abia’s plan to recruit security personnel

 

• Describes exercise as unserious, unsound and poorly thought-out

 

BY OUR EDITOR

The 2019 governorship candidate of APGA in Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, has expressed fears in the plan by the government of Abia State to recruit personnel into the state’s Homeland Security Outfit, describing the exercise as policy of poor judgment.

Otti, the leader of APGA in Abia State, said he deemed it appropriate to voice out his disapproval for the recruitment because the very basic fundamentals were not right and therefore, he considered the policy as “unserious, unsound and poorly thought-out.”

In a statement issued Tuesday in Umuahia, Abia State capital, by his media aide, Ferdinand Ekeoma, Otti declared that Abia already had a security outfit established by an act of the Abia State House of Assembly, but which has been mismanaged by the government.

According to the statement, “The said outfit known as the ‘Abia State Vigilante Services’ exists to complement national security agencies, especially the police in fighting crimes in Abia, but very sadly, the welfare of the members of the Abia Vigilante has been so ignored,  that many members of the group now resort to molestation and extortion of innocent citizens, especially traders in Aba for economic survival.

“It’s an undisputed fact that no Importer can open/offload his container in Aba without paying a specified amount of money to members of the Abia Vigilante Services.

“Infact, some members of this Vigilante had approached us, in confidence, a few months ago to help them call out the government over the neglect of their welfare, but we turned down their request and advised them to approach the Abia State House of Assembly. We directed them to Abia Assembly because we didn’t want the government to falsely accuse us of sponsoring them to oppose the government.”

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Otti wondered how a government he described as having failed to take care of the welfare of her already existing security outfit should embark on the creation of another security agency, as well as recruitment of individuals into same agency with zero structures and no defined welfare package.

He queried: “What number of persons does the government want to employ, where are they going to work, and what would be the difference between the Homeland Security and the Abia Vigilante Services? What would be their modus operandi, and how will they be remunerated?

“Since the (Gov Okezie) Ikpeazu led government has become very reckless and careless in owing months of accumulated salary arrears to those they brand “Non-Core Civil Servants” in the Abia Civil Service, and since members of the outfit are going to be armed as security agents, what would become the fate of innocent citizens when these security agents are ravaged by hunger as a result of non-payment of their salaries by the Ikpeazu led government?”

Consequently, Otti said: “We want to unequivocally condemn Ikpeazu’s penchant for creating inconsequential agencies and offices, and appointing individuals without real job descriptions for political exigencies. This thoughtless action doesn’t just make mockery of governance, it destroys government institutions and retards development, because they can hardly outlive the government of the moment.

“If the newly created Ministry of Homeland security was not created for leadership braggadocio and for the settlement of the army of unproductive political/election rigging associates making life miserable for Abians, the Abia Vigilante Services would have been collapsed and integrated into this ministry, and a process of reform and sanitisation commenced.

“We want to strongly caution that, security is such a sensitive issue that when handled with carelessness creates a destructive monster that can consume everyone, and having conspicuously shown lack of leadership and empathy in dealing with issues that concern the welfare of Abians, we believe that the Ikpeazu led government is the most unsuitable to talk about setting up a security outfit, let alone carry out a recruitment exercise.”

Abia State is currently owing civil servants and pensioners several months in arrears of their salaries and pensions. Retirees gratuities were said to have been last paid as far back as 2005.