[size=16pt]Thugs beat protesting health workers[/size]

By Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji

December 18, 2009 03:23AMT
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For daring to protest the non-payment of their salaries for three months, Ogun State health workers at the Abeokuta South Council were seriously beaten by suspected political thugs on Thursday, sending many of the victims to hospital with fractured bones and limbs.

The workers, who are largely female, had staged a peaceful protest to the house of the local government chairman, Yanju Lipede, at the Government Reservation Area {GRA}, Ibara, Abeokuta to express their displeasure when they were ambushed by the hired ruffians.

When the workers were a few metres away from Mr. Lipede's house, two vehicles, including an SUV, suddenly parked beside the protesters and five hefty men disembarked from the vehicles. These men descended on the women, beating them mercilessly with horsewhip, stick and other weapons.

The protesters were left running helter-skelter to avoid being killed in the process, with many of them left with blood stain and torn clothes. Some of them had to take refuge in nearby houses while the beating lasted.

The thugs equally rained curses on the health workers, alleging them to be agents of the opposition who are bent to pull down the government.

One of the victims, Adeyola Solaja, a senior cadre nurse, who was later revived by her colleagues after the merciless beating, said the SUV brought by the thugs has been traced to the Supervisory Councilor on Health at the local government.

Shock and disbelief

"We are on peaceful protest to the house of the chairman, when suddenly a jeep identified as belonging to supervisory councilor on health suddenly stopped and before we knew it, hefty men emerged from the vehicle and started beating us," Mrs. Solaja said. "These thugs beat us with horsewhip, stick and other dangerous weapons. They beat hell out of us." Some of the health workers were short of words when interviewed by Next.

"This is unbelievable; we were not carrying even placards, just marching in peaceful manner to lodge our complaint to the chairman, when these hoodlums swooped on us," another of the victims said.

The State Chairperson, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Abiodun Olakanmi, said he received a distress call on the ugly development and had to run to the scene.

"We wondered why political thugs had to beat up workers over their rightful demands," he said, saying the state government had, after the suspended strike by health workers, ordered that all outstanding salaries must be paid, which the local government had failed to do.

Mr. Olakanmi said he was witnessing such barbaric act for the first time in his life, adding that if justice is not done, the association will take a legal action. "Can you see those taking care of patients now becoming patients?" he said.

Inappropriate protest

Mr. Lipede, however, described the protest of the health workers as inappropriate and a demonstration of falsehood.

He said it is untrue that the local government owes the workers a three-month salary arrears because his government is adhering to the no-work-no-pay policy of the state government, which he said the council applied when the workers were on strike.

"This local government does not owe the workers any salary in arrears, not even one month or three months that the workers are claiming. When the workers were on strike, we applied no-work-no-pay rule. That is the money the workers are now describing as a debt; we do not owe anybody any salary," Mr. Lipede said.

He said if the council was to pay the salaries, it would be on "compassionate ground." He also said he knew nothing about the thugs who injured the protesters.

The agreement reached between the state government and health workers is that they would be paid for the time they were on strike.


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