Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, says he would not be distracted by proceedings at the Abia State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Umuahia which is looking into the questioned 2015 gubernatorial poll in the state.

Addressing newsmen in his maiden media briefing at the Banquets Hall in Government House, Umuahia yesterday, Ikpeazu said he believed he would still triumph in the end.

Responding to a question on how he was "enjoying" the ongoing tribunal looking into petitions arising from the Abia 2015 governorship election, the governor said "I don't know how to enjoy the tribunal but it is a normal process that when people lose election they go to the tribunal."

He said his current preoccupation was to give Abians good governance, and vowed not to be distracted by proceedings at the tribunal.

“I have chosen to allow the tribunal do its job. The tribunal will come and go like other challenges. Justice shall prevail,” Ikpeazu said.

He, however, complained that an unnamed Umuahia-based radio station was preempting the tribunal by the way it was reporting the tribunal proceedings, calling the broadcast “trial within trial.” He called on the National Broadcasting Commission to critically examine the station’s presentation of the tribunal’s proceedings in one of its programmes.

The governor parried the question on what he met on assumption of office, saying he inherited funds and debts. He did not go to specifics as the debt portfolio he inherited. “My body language doesn’t show that we are dangerously and precariously disadvantaged in terms of funds,” he stated.

On the salary arrears owed workers in the state, the governor admitted that there was confusion about who was being owed and how much.

“Regular civil servants are owed one month but the Departments and Agencies are owed three mon5hs and above,” he said, assuring that he would pay the current salaries and work out modalities for clearing the arrears

Ikpeazu said that his administration would fish out ghost workers to determine the actual wage bill of civil servants in the state to make for equitable distribution of the state’s resources among the sectors. Currently, the state is carrying a biometric audit of the civil servants.

“It doesn’t make sense that civil servants which constitute five per cent of the Abia population consumes about 95 per cent of Abia income.

“Those caught in the web of the ghost workers syndrome, staff racketeering, misappropriation of salaries of workers will be treated as economic saboteurs,” the governor warned.

He promised to embark on massive re-orientation to strengthen the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to improve service delivery and increase productivity.

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