Emmanuel Ifeanyi 
…begins efforts to repatriate suspects living abroad
Abia State Government has denied the allegation that it is violating the rights of some citizens arrested for allegedly getting involved in pension fraud.
According to Ferdinand Ekeoma, the Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Media and Publicity, said that not less than 11 suspects, male and female, are in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Ekeoma alleged that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) opposition elements and their allies are holding meetings in different WhatsApp groups concerning the fraud.
According to him, the opposition and its allies are gathering to besiege the government by feeding the public with lies and disinformation on the matter, stressing that such a strategy is dead on arrival.
He said that against opposition allegation of human rights violation; the DSS secured an order in line with Nigerian laws to detain the individuals beyond the mandatory maximum of 48 hours.
Ekeoma said that the order was secured to enable for more investigation and for those already arrested, provide more useful information that would assist arrest some other members of the cartel.
He said the order secured has already yielded fruit as another suspect was tracked down and arrested at the weekend at a community in Abia North Senatorial Zone, courtesy of useful information gotten from those already apprehended.
He said that some suspects are said to be abroad, and the government is making efforts to get them repatriated to Nigeria and to Abia to face justice.
Ekeoma said that it is shocking that of all the people that were arrested and detained, only one citizen, Mr Nwabueze Onyekachi, interests some government critics and those he referred to as “those who ruined Abia State in the past.”
“For them, he is more important than all Abia Pensioners put together, because he obviously has been a destructive tool in their hands, and thus should be given a pat on the back, and a trophy of holy accomplishment and asked to go home and celebrate.
“Are some people so mean and unfair to Abia state in the name of opposition, to the extent of asking that a citizen whose actions may have caused pain and anguish to innocent people shouldn’t at least be made to go through the process of the law to establish his innocence or otherwise?
“Where on earth do people exhibit such audacity of wickedness? Where on earth do people manifest such grand hypocrisy?
“How could those who condemn and castigate the government for occasional omission of pensioners during monthly pension payments, now turn around to defend those who allegedly remove names of genuine and legitimate pensioners and smuggle in strange and illegitimate names used to siphon pension funds on a monthly basis?
“What action has the Abia State government taken in this matter so far that amounted to illegality or injustice? How come that, while lawyers, including those in opposition with superior knowledge of the law, have not been able to establish a single evidence of illegality or abuse against Abia state government in this matter?
“Yet, those who are swimming in the pool of emotions, ignorance or hate are the ones driving a kindergarten narrative that encourages criminality and negates the right and welfare of the victims of the alleged fraud.”
