By Citizens’ Rights Group.
There is a dangerous new normal in Abia State. It is the normalization of abnormality. It is the seating of due process on its head and the celebration of illegality as statecraft. The epicenter of this dangerous descent is not a motor park, it is the Abia State House of Assembly – a hallowed chamber of lawmaking that has now become a theatre of illegal suspensions, foisted acting appointments, and brazen victimization of career public servants who dare to insist on the rule book. What is happening in the Abia Assembly is not just an administrative infraction; it is an orchestrated attempt to destroy the Public Service and turn a distinct Service Commission into a political errand department.
ABNORMALITY AS STATE POLICY
What we are witnessing is no longer a mistake; it is a method. The abnormal has been methodically promoted to become the new normal. Due process has been sacked. The Law establishing the Abia State House of Assembly Service Commission have been suspended in practice by persons who want to be in the good books of the powers that be, even if it means setting the House on fire to keep their masters warm.
THE UNRESOLVED ORIGINAL SIN: THE ILLEGAL SUSPENSION OF JOHN PEDRO IROKANSI
The foundation of this illegality is the illegal suspension of the substantive Clerk and Head of Legislative Service, Johnpedro Nnamdi Irokansi PhD. A man who rose through the ranks, a career officer who embodies institutional memory, was illegally shoved aside without due process. For months, this illegality has festered, raising fundamental questions about the very existence and independence of the Abia State House of Assembly Service Commission as a distinct Service Commission. If a Commission cannot protect its most senior officer, who will it protect?
LEGITIMIZING ILLEGALITY: THE FAILURE OF THE SERVICE COMMISSION
The Abia State House of Assembly Service Commission has failed its test of history. Instead of being a bulwark against political interference, it has become an accomplice. Backed by an inefficient and ineffective leadership, it has legitimized illegality. It watched the law, even the Law establishing her being raped and gave it a bed. A Commission that was created to insulate the legislative bureaucracy from executive recklessness has now been reduced to stamping any illegality brought from above.
THE GRADE LEVEL 14 CHARADE: A QUASI POLITICAL EXPERIMENT
And as if the illegal suspension was not enough, the House has now foisted another charade on the people of Abia. A Grade Level 14 Officer – in a Service where seniority, cognate experience, and progression are sacrosanct – has been foisted as Acting Clerk in a quasi political experiment. This is not appointment; it is imposition. This is not acting; it is acting a script. How can a GL 14 officer superintend over Directors on GL 16? It is a direct assault on the Scheme of Service, on morale, and on the very soul of the Public Service.
THE LAW IS CLEAR: YOU CANNOT PUT A JUNIOR TO LEAD HIS SENIORS
The Public Service Rule is unambiguous. The most senior Director is the one who acts when there is a vacuum. You do not import juniority to lead seniority because of political convenience. This GL 14 experiment is a deliberate attempt to destroy hierarchy, to humiliate career officers, and to create a Clerk who will be perpetually loyal not to the law, but to those who foisted him.
VICTIMIZATION AS A WEAPON: THE CASE OF CHIDIKE EKEKWE
Victimization now holds sway in the Abia State House of Assembly. The latest victim is the Director of Administration, Chidike Ekekwe, a career officer. His crime? He refused to be railroaded into illegality. He was allegedly being pressured to sign the Gen 35 document – the document that authenticates promotion of staff in the Public Service – for the illegally foisted Acting Clerk to the position of Deputy Director. The Director rightly said he does not have the powers to do so, because under the extant Rules of the Abia State House of Assembly Service, Scheme of Service and Public Service Rules, it is only the Substantive Clerk and Head of Legislative Service that signs Gen 35 for officers in the senior cadre, no one else. For refusing to usurp the powers of the Substantive Clerk, he has been allegedly removed from office.
THE GEN 35 FRAUD: USURPING THE POWERS OF THE SUBSTANTIVE CLERK
The Departmental Selection Board makes recommendations for promotion, the Assembly Service Commission approves the recommendations, and forwards same to the Substantive Clerk for implementation and publication through the signing of Gen 35. That is the law. Therefore, neither the Director of Administration nor an illegally foisted Acting Clerk on GL 14 has any power whatsoever to sign Gen 35 for senior cadre. Only Dr. Johnpedro Nnamdi Irokansi PhD as the Substantive Clerk can. To force a Director to sign it is not just illegal – it is a deliberate attempt to usurp the statutory powers of the Substantive Clerk and to authenticate fraud.
THE ABSENTEE REPLACEMENT: REWARDING ILLEGAL BIDDING
Even more nauseating is the replacement for Chidike Ekekwe. Findings show that an absentee staff – a staff known for chronic absenteeism – is being brought in as replacement with a clear mandate: to do the illegal bidding that a principled Director refused to do. So Abia now rewards absenteeism and punishes integrity? This is how you destroy the Public Service. This is how you kill morale and tell every hardworking staff that diligence is a crime and sycophancy is a virtue.
A SYSTEMATIC PLOT TO DESTROY THE PUBLIC SERVICE
It has become obvious that this administration is doing everything to destroy the Public Service in Abia State. From illegal suspensions to foisting of juniors over seniors, to victimization of principled officers, to using absentee staff for hatchet jobs – the pattern is systematic. The House of Assembly, which should be the watchdog over executive excesses, has become the poster child of illegality. If the House that makes laws breaks laws with impunity, what hope is left for the common man?
FINGERS POINTING: THE SYCOPHANTS DESTROYING DUE PROCESS
Fingers are pointing. And they are pointing directly at persons within the political leadership of the House and their collaborators in the Service Commission who want to be in the good books of the powers that be. They are the ones who have decided to destroy whatever is remaining of due process to secure their own political survival. They have traded institutional integrity for a plate of porridge. History will record them as the men who killed the Abia legislature.
THE CLERK IS NOT A POLITICAL APPOINTEE: THE CASE FOR INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY
The Clerk of the House is not a political appointee. He is the Head of Legislative Service, the institutional memory of the House, the administrative engine that survives political dispensations. Johnpedro Nnamdi Irokansi PhD is not just a Clerk; he is a system. Illegally suspending him is like removing the engine from a moving vehicle and expecting it to run because you have painted it. You cannot run a legislature on sycophancy and Level 14 experiments.
CALL TO ACTION: RECALL AND REINSTATE JOHN PEDRO IROKANSI NOW
This intensifies the call for the immediate, unconditional recall and reinstatement of Johnpedro Nnamdi Irokansi PhD as the substantive Clerk and Head of Legislative Service of the Abia State House of Assembly. His illegal suspension must be lifted. The foisted GL 14 acting appointment must be reversed. The victimization of Director Chidike Ekekwe must stop and he must be reinstated. The absentee illegal bidder must not be allowed to hold that office. The Abia State House of Assembly Service Commission must wake up from its slumber and act as a distinct Commission, not as a department in the Government House or be disbanded. Only the Substantive Clerk can sign Gen 35 for senior officers – that is the law, and the law must be respected.
HISTORY WILL JUDGE
Abia has suffered enough. We cannot allow the last bastion of lawmaking to be turned into a shrine of lawbreaking. Due process is not a favour; it is a right. The Clerkship is not a political toy; it is an institution. If we keep quiet today while they murder due process in the House of Assembly, tomorrow they will murder it in every Ministry, Department and Agency. Abia workers are watching. Abians are watching. Nigerians are watching. History will judge all the actors in this charade of illegality. Enough is enough!
