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Paul Osuyi, Asaba
THE over 1000 suspended workers of the Delta State Government have vowed to mobilise against Governor Ifeanyi Okowa unless they are urgently recalled. The aggrieved workers who were employed at the twilight of the immediate past administration of Emmanuel Uduaghan, had their employment suspended by Okowa few days after he was sworn-in on May 29, 2015.
The governor had stated that the recruitment was fraught with alleged irregularities, and promised that his administration would review the entire process with a view to ascertaining those deserving of employment. More than two years after that promise, the suspended workers renewed their call on the governor to lift the suspension order and recall them into service, vowing to stop the governor’s second term bid in 2019 with their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) if they were not recalled.
Their spokesman, Obukohwo Ighesiri, said in Asaba that the group did not resort to legal battle against the government because of lack of funds, adding that their potent weapon remained the PVCs:
“It is pertinent to let the government know that those of us who were employed into the civil service by the previous government of Uduaghan and disengaged by Okowa has created a network across the three senatorial districts to fight back with the only weapon we have, which is our voters’ cards. We are holding on to our cards to vote out a government that turned deaf ears to her citizens’ outcry.”
He alleged they were deceived by Okowa during the 2015 electioneering when he was confronted with the recruitment process of Uduaghan at the time: He promised that rather than sack workers, his government would create more jobs to eradicate unemployment.
“But to our greatest surprise, barely 24 hours of taking oath of office, what he found deem to do was to disengage those who were already in the service including those of us newly employed, Edu marshal and environmental marshal that were playing significant roles in the state.”
But Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, said government never sacked workers but that the suspension order was to enable government properly investigate the employment process, as well as a proper overhaul of the civil service.
He said about 422 people still on government payroll were yet to clear themselves in the on going biometric exercise to ascertain the number of civil servants, explaining that the biometric exercise was designed to overhaul the service and create vacancies where required.
