PROTESTING workers yesterday chased away Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State from his office over the sack of 1,994 of their colleagues.

Amosun took refuge in the Presidential Lodge, Abeokuta, the state capital, where heavily-armed mobile policemen had to cordon-off the Lodge to shield him from the workers’ wrath.

But for the intervention of the security agents, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, might have been lynched by the thousands of civil servants protesting the sack of their colleagues by Amosun.

Security agents had already tipped the governor off that the protesters were approaching and he quickly left his office for the Presidential Lodge.

Trouble started when the SSG was trying to appeal to the protesters to calm down and comply with the government directive on the need to re-apply for employment in the state civil service.

The civil servants, who were among the about 2,000 recruited by the immediate past administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, staged a protest to the Governor’s Office in Oke-Mosan.

Amosun had sacked the workers as part of his administration’s reversal of several policies and programmes executed by his predecessor.

Despite the fact that the state government would still make an extra N20 million monthly after paying the 1,994 workers, Amosun ordered their sack.

The civil servants, who protested the treatment meted out to their colleagues, also carried their grievances to the House of Assembly and the Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta.



Some of the protesters carried placards with inscriptions, such as “Amosun promised us better living, not disappointment”; “Where is your wind of change?”; “We say

no to disengagement”; “Governor Amosun, this is unfair”; “You have no mercy, Mr. Governor, are we bonafide indigenes of Ogun State at all?” and “10,000 jobs must start from somewhere.”

The workers were employed in March before the general elections.

Narrating their ordeal, some of those sacked drawn from various ministries, departments and agencies, lamented that they had worked for the last three months without pay.

They explained that the news of their sack was conveyed on Wednesday (yesterday) by their various Permanent Secretaries who said that their services were no longer needed by the government.

The protesters wondered why the governor disengaged them arbitrarily and without valid reason after being legitimately employed by the state government.

They argued that since Amosun had promised to employ 10,000 workers within his first 100 days in office, he should not find it difficult to accommodate them since they are bonafide indigenes of the state.

One of the workers, who identified himself as Ademefun Abiodun, explained that the state government had on June 20 directed them to re-apply, which they complied with.



Abiodun said he was surprised to hear on Wednesday morning that he had been disengaged along with other workers recruited by the immediate past administration.

Lasisi Saheed of the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) department of the state’s Transport Ministry, also said that he got to his office just to be told that he had been sacked.



“Former Governor Segun Osoba employed workers toward the tail end of his administration and Otunba Daniel did not sack them when he came on board. So, why would Amosun sack us simply because Daniel recruited us? It is unfair the way they have treated us. Is this the kind of government Amosun promised us?” one of the workers said.

Addressing the protesters at the Governor’s Office, the SSG denied that the workers were sacked and attributed their grievances to rumour mongering.

Adeoluwa pointed out that what the government only did was to ask the workers to re-apply, adding that the Amosun-led administration would follow due process in re-engaging them.

He said: “As a government that rode to power on a popular mandate and has promised to create 10,000 new jobs, this is strange. If you are here and you have not re-applied, please go and do that immediately.

“On our part as a government, I can assure you that no single person that is qualified and who has passed through due process will be denied employment; they will

be re-engaged immediately. This is a humane government that respects the rule of law. We won’t be taking away jobs but we will instead be creating jobs.”

Miffed by the SSG’s unsatisfactory explanation, the sacked workers angrily shouted at him and at this point, security agents within the Secretariat Complex waded in

and hurriedly took him away apparently to forestall any untoward development.

The protesters, some of them weeping and cursing the governor, moved to the House of Assembly where they met the Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi, who asked them to exercisepatience.

The Speaker asked the protesters to formally write a letter to the House concerning the matter, adding that the lawmakers would debate the issue with a view to finding a lasting solution.



The workers will today stage a major protest to the office of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

they should re apply since amosun claim that due process was not follow in the engagement of there service, they should take its easy with amosun, but its unfair if that is final decision of the governor

GOD PUNISH GBENGA DANIEL for this, it is a calculated attempt to make amosu's govt useless

source

Na God go punish OGD, He left a staggering Debt of over 70 billion naira and make sure the Net Revenue of the state was reduced to just 300 million and yet he still employs another 2,000 workers to just create unnecessary Problem for the man, I pity the New Intakes though, it is painful but Oloriburuku OGD, Sango Lo ma pa e oooooooo

Amosun's aim is to say gudbye and erase totally every legacy of PDP in ogun state.But i tot a gud leader is a builder? Hummmmmm...some,i guess are destroyers!

Juzzybabe: Amosun's aim is to say gudbye and erase totally every legacy of PDP in ogun state.But i tot a gud leader is a builder? Hummmmmm...some,i guess are destroyers!

This is a stale old news, Juzzy babe!

How come you took over 365 steps backward?



Frawzey