Abia director petitions Otti over 20 months of withheld salaries

Bamachy Onyemachi, a director at Abia’s Health Management Board, says more than 20 months without pay have pushed him into financial distress, with his landlord threatening eviction and a bank taking possession of a house he bought with a loan.

Onyemachi, the board’s director of Medical Services in Umuahia, has petitioned Governor Alex Otti to intervene. He told the News Agency of Nigeria that his difficulties began after a dispute with the board’s chief executive officer, Odochi Azubuike, over the movement of equipment at Federal Multipurpose Hospital in Ugwunagbo.

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I counselled her against the idea but she insisted so I involved the traditional ruler of the community.

He said he opposed moving some equipment on the evening the hospital was inaugurated on July 3, 2024, and involved the community’s traditional ruler. According to Onyemachi, Azubuike then wrote to the commissioner for finance to stop the salaries of 21 board employees, including him. He said the workers were accused of rejecting postings, poor attendance, abandoning their duties, refusing to retire after eight years as directors and failing to appear before a verification committee.

Onyemachi said the head of service, Benson Ojeikere, investigated the matter and cleared him of refusing to retire. A May 20, 2025 letter directed him to serve the remaining four years of his tenure. He said Azubuike later acknowledged his reinstatement and requested payment of six months of stopped salaries, but the money remained unpaid. He subsequently escalated the matter to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, who referred it back to the head of service.

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Sequel to Azubuike’s letter, the HoS wrote to the Commissioner of Finance, who, through a letter dated 24 December, 2024, directed the Accountant-General to stop my salary and those of the other 20 staff members of the board.