Workers layoff: Abia PDP asks Otti to apologise for ‘attacking’ Anglican Church

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia has expressed dismay over an alleged attack by the administration of Alex Otti, governor of the state, on the Anglican Church.

In early September, Otti ordered the disengagement of civil servants employed in the state from December 2022 to date.

But the Aba diocese of the Anglican Church, rising from its third session of its 17th Synod on Friday, kicked against the governor’s decision, arguing that it would only worsen the economic situation in the state.

The church asked the governor to reverse his decision and focus on development.

In a reaction, Ferdinand Ekeoma, Otti’s spokesperson, alleged that one of the signatories of the church’s communique sought personal favours from the governor which was refused.

“The governor turned down these requests because they were unhealthy and self-serving,” Ekeoma had said in a statement on Saturday.

In a statement on Monday, Abraham Amah, vice-chair of the PDP in Abia, said Otti should tender an apology to the church.

“The church is the moral conscience of society and it is its duty to speak truth to power,” Amah said.

“For the eight years of the Okezie Ikpeazu administration, the leaders of the Church held him firmly to account and on several occasions commended him as well as knocked him in areas they felt he did not do right but there was never this type of hostile response.

“The Abia PDP feels embarrassed that the hallowed office of the governor which represents the lofty ideals and aspirations of the good people of Abia State, has been reduced to a disorganised motor park office where the chairman barks orders to his subordinates without checks by any officer.”

The vice-chair said residents of Abia should put “a wedge on the speedy slide of our state to authoritarianism”.