The Abia State chapter of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned Governor Alex Otti's handling of pension arrears, describing it as "characteristic, yet unproductive efforts to seek cheap popularity by peddling lies."
In a statement signed by Hon. Elder Abraham Amah, Abia PDP Vice Chairman and Acting State Publicity Secretary, the party accused Otti of using pensioners to promote his self-serving agenda, adding that his claims of clearing nine or ten years of pension arrears are false and embellished with lies.
The party pointed out discrepancies in Otti's claims, citing that while his Commissioner for Finance said nine years, Otti himself claimed ten 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.
The Abia PDP also commended the courage and maturity of the National Pensioners Union (NUP) in handling the matter and encouraged them to take the matter to arbitration for a quick resolution.
The party posed several questions, including:
- Why did Otti pressure and trick the leadership of NUP into signing an agreement to forgo outstanding arrears?
- Did the agreement expressly say that the government would claim to have paid in full pension arrears that were forfeited?
- How did 45 months of outstanding pension arrears suddenly turn to 9 or 10 years?
The Abia PDP demands an explanation and wants to know where the balance of 111 or 99 months is, as Otti claims to have cleared 9 or 10 years of arrears.
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Politics