The seeming sudden resignation of Abia State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Chima Oriaku, and Agriculture counterpart, Prof. Monica Ironkwe, has sparked the ire of the state’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Ukoha Njoku Ukoha, the commissioners tendered their resignation letters to the governor and he thanked them for their service and sacrifice to the state, wishing them well in their future endeavours.
The CPS, yesterday, insisted that the two Commissioners honourably resigned because they were not meeting the set goals within the time frame set by the governor who, on assumption of office, set goals and time frame to achieving pre-set goals.
However, the state PDP, through its Vice Chairman/Acting Publicity Secretary, Abraham Amah, in a statement marked, ‘Resignation of Alex Otti’s Commissioners vindicates PDP’s position on Bogus, unexplained and unverifiable expenditure headings,’ rejected the reason the CPS ascribed to their resignations.
He stated: “The Abia PDP intel authoritatively revealed that the two commissioners resigned their appointments following disagreements with the governor over the huge sums of money earmarked for expenditure headings within their ministries and the projects, which they knew nothing about.
“The commissioners had, in the past months, been inundated with questions from journalists and their constituents about the huge sums of money in some expenditure headings in their ministries’ quarterly financial reports, which they were unable to explain.
“It was at this point that they approached the governor for answers, which he could not provide. As a result, they elected to leave the cabinet with their reputations intact.”
