Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Ekiti govt/NULGE face-off: LG workers block secretariats with juju


Following a directive by the Ekiti State government that striking local government workers should return to work on Monday (yesterday), there was panic as the main gates of the various council secretariats were barricaded with palm fronds and other fetish materials.
The state government, through the Commissioner for Labour, Mr Wole Adewumi, had issued a unilateral statement at the weekend announcing that local government workers would resume on Monday, saying that government had agreed to pay the minimum wage of N19,300, even to health workers in the council which had been the cause of the over two-month-old dispute.
The government also said in the statement that the result of the biometric verification exercise it carried out in the local governments would be made public, and directed the workers to resume for normal duties at the 16 local government areas.
But contrary to government’s directive, it was discovered that apart from being deserted by workers, the secretariats were laced with rituals oozing with oil, birds wrapped in white nylon and other fetish materials which scared even council caretaker chairmen away.
Reacting to government’s directive in a telephone interview, President of Ekiti State chapter of National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Mr Dele Ajayi,  said, “we called the strike and we should be the ones to call it off,” adding that, “we are not part of the government announcement.”
Some NULGE members, who spoke under anonymity, said some caretaker chairmen and senior staff, who had earlier reported to work, fled on sighting the fetish materials.
At the Ado Ekiti Local Government Area secretariat, palm fronds hung on the main gate prevented public officials and other employees, including the guards from gaining entry.
At Igede, headquarters of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area, a man in white garment was at the gate doing what some observers said was “spiritual cleansing” at about 10.48a.m.
Chairman of the council, Mr. Femi Awe, said the situation was “frightening,” adding that “the workers could as well continue with the strike without resorting to voodoo to scare the workers.”
Also at Ilawe Ekiti, headquarters of Ekiti South West Council Area, the chairman of the Council, Kolawole Genge, told the newsmen that the fear of juju scared some workers away from their duty post.
The Tribune

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