Group Blasts ‘Faceless’ Critics, Defends Abia Accountant General as ‘Bulwark’ Against Financial Recklessness | Blissful Affairs Online
A fierce defense of Abia State’s Accountant General, Mrs. Njum Uma-Onyemenam, was issued in Umuahia on Wednesday March 25, by the Abia Integrity Youth Association (ABIYA), which dismissed recent calls for her dismissal as the work of “agents of the old order” seeking to dismantle the state’s financial safeguards.
In a sharp rebuttal to a statement attributed to a coalition calling itself the “United Front for a New Abia (UFNA),” ABIYA characterized the allegations against Mrs. Onyemenam as “mischievous” and emblematic of the very dysfunction her tenure was designed to eradicate.
The association, which positions itself as a defender of transparency and meritocracy, accused UFNA of being a “faceless group” representing a faction nostalgic for what it termed the “gloom era”, a period marked by unchecked looting and the treatment of treasury officials as “mere errand boys.”
“We wish to state categorically that this so-called ‘United Front’ represents no one but themselves and a handful of agents of the old order who are deeply uncomfortable with the ongoing sanitization of Abia’s public finance management system,” said Comrade Ikechukwu Kalu, Interim National Coordinator of ABIYA.
The defense of Mrs. Onyemenam hinged on her professional pedigree outside the political sphere. ABIYA highlighted her distinguished career in the private sector, including strategic leadership roles at the Zenith Group and NSIA Insurance, arguing that she brought a private-sector prudence finance ethos of corporate governance and risk management to the state treasury.
According to the group, the “arrogance” cited by her critics is, in fact, a necessary firmness in rejecting illegal spending and enforcing due process.
“Her refusal to fast-track approvals that do not follow the strict procurement and financial laws of the state is not ‘fueling discontent’; it is protecting Governor Alex Otti’s administration from falling into the same cesspool of financial recklessness that characterized previous governments,” Kalu stated.
ABIYA argued that the delays allegedly caused by the Accountant General are a direct result of her vigilance in ensuring that public funds are not diverted to “contractors, ghost workers or political middlemen” but are instead used to serve the broader interests of Abians.
The association called on Governor Alex Otti to disregard the calls for dismissal and to continue empowering the official they described as a “gatekeeper” against financial malfeasance. The group warned that attempts to destabilize the current administration would fail, as the era of treating public funds as a “personal piggy bank” is over.
“Mrs. Njum Onyemenam represents the new Abia: professional, incorruptible, and accountable,” the statement concluded.
