The Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the state governor, Dr Alex Otti, of meddling in the affairs of the State House of Assembly.

The Abia PDP, in a statement issued on Tuesday by its Vice Chairman, Abraham Amah, said the first sign of the governor’s manoeuvre of the House to achieve a predetermined outcome was the delayed and eventual secretive issuing of the proclamation for the inauguration of the 8th Assembly which was orchestrated to have only members of the Labour Party (LP).

The party noted that Otti, after the alleged failed attempt, rather than leave after the inauguration as is customary, to allow the members to carry out their first legislative assignment which is the election of the leadership, stayed back to supervise the election and in the process interfered with election of the leadership which impinges on the independence of the legislature.

It added: “As we said in our subsequent press release following the aberration, as democrats we respect the independence of the legislature and allowed members to elect their leadership unencumbered by executive interference. But that was not to be so as the hand of the governor was very visible in the outcome of the election of the leadership of the Assembly as he went as far as personally invading the hallowed chambers of the House in an unprecedented manner to supervise the desecration of the House.

“A few days after that charade, we warned again about attempts by Dr Alex Otti and the Labour Party to torpedo the trademark peace in Abia State by changing the House Rules once more, and use members of the Labour Party who are in the minority as Majority Leader and Deputy Majority Leader; positions which are by law reserved for members of the majority party in the parliament, and in this case the PDP.

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“A few days after our warning, members of the Labour Party who are in the minority in the House were unilaterally appointed by the Labour Party as Majority Leader and Deputy Majority Leader of the House respectively, even when the PDP as of right had officially written to the House, nominating its members for the positions reserved for the majority Party.

“Aside from not reading the letter in the House plenary as required by parliamentary convention, the Labour Party also ignored the nominees of the majority PDP. And today, there is chaos in the Assembly as members of the PDP have outrightly rejected the nominations of members of the Labour Party into those offices.”

The Abia PDP further stated that Otti recently set up a Commission of Inquiry on Recovery of Public Property against wise counsel and failed to allow the Commission to work before engaging on media trial of members of the past administrations by making statements indicating that he has already found the people guilty before court trial.

“One of the finest principles of natural justice upon which judicial proceedings are anchored is the principle of fair hearing and trial. It is irresponsible for the government to continue to attack former public servants and accuse them of malfeasance even when the courts have not tried them and found them guilty.

“It is also very dangerous to engage in such acts that betray the emotions of public officers which make them come across as having deep personal hatred for people who merely did their official duties as officers of the government,” the party said.

It, however, called on the leadership of the National Assembly and civil society organisations to “beam their searchlight on the ongoing illegal deconstruction of the Abia State House of Assembly and other acts of lawlessness in Abia under the watch of Dr Alex Otti and avert the making of a despot as we are witnessing now.

“The Abia PDP once again, advises the governor and his Labour Party to tread with caution and use its powers within the limits approved by the law. We enjoin the Elders and the good people of Abia State, including the members of the Labour Party to prevail upon the governor to do what is right and not to engage in acts capable of destroying the peace we take for granted in our dear State,” the Abia PDP noted.

The Star