The Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Abia State Governor, Barr Onyebuchi Ememanka has blamed unpatriotic Abians for the delay in payment of March salaries of civil servants.
This is even as he has advised civil servants to stop complaining about their unpaid March salaries as according to him, the workers are the architects of their own woes.
Ememanka who spoke on the freezing and unfreezing of Abia State bank accounts by Abuja High Court, said the Court order took Abia State government by surprise.
He expressed dismay that many Abians who did not understand the deep implications of the Court action, initially celebrated the development, oblivious that they, not the State government would be the biggest victims.
He specifically accused Abia State civil servants of allegedly dancing and jubilating in their offices after hearing that Abia State accounts had been frozen.
Ememanka who wondered why Abia civil servants would join in the sabotage of the State government, maintained that the outgoing government of Okezie Ikpeazu only owes one month of salaries, not backlog of months as wrongly quoted by critics of the State government.
He therefore promised that the government having secured the vacating of the Abuja High Court Motion ex parte was set to pay the March salaries of the workers. However, the CPS has attracted the ire of many civil servants in Abia for the uncomplimentary language he applied on them.
Some workers who spoke at the secretariat under anonymity said the CPS was insensitive and arrogant to the sufferings of workers in Abia State. They advised him to count Abia workers out of politics but to advise his principal, the Governor to pay the workers without delay.
“Schools have reopened and my children’s school fees are to be paid. There is no food in my home and somebody is delaying my salary. Let them pay us our money unless they want us to believe that they are punishing us for allegedly not voting for them during election”, said a female civil servant.
Meanwhile, Abia State government has vowed to close any bank in the State that refused to vacate the Don’t Pay order on Abia State accounts. The statement signed by Barr Chris Ezem, Secretary to the State government said that Banks operating in the State and doing business with the State government had no reason to withhold Abia State money, even when Abuja High Court had vacated its early order.
News Echo gathered that before the Abia State government’s statement, civil servants were contemplating going on fresh strike, to demand the payment of their salaries.