A woman whose name is yet to be revealed reportedly slumped on Monday, September 21, while protesting against her dismissal from work by the Cross River State government.
Bibian Anekwe News understands that the lady was a victim of those delisted by the Cross River State government from the state civil service, following an order by Governor Ben Ayade in 2019.
It was reported that the governor had since last year directed the delisting of about 2,500 names from the state government payroll, with claims that most of the people employed between 2014 till then did not follow due process for their employments.
However, the woman who was until her sack a staff of the ministry of health was later revived and taken home, Bibian Anekwe News understands.
Reacting to the development that led to the incident, the sacked workers on Monday, reportedly came out en-mass to put a barricade at the state secretariat to protest over what they described as “unfair and illegal delisting from the state payroll.”
The protesters who carried placards with inscriptions ‘we shall protest till the end’, ‘Head of Service should be sacked’’, ‘Ayade you betrayed us’, lamented that they were tired of not hearing from the government and that the state labour union is complicit in their plights.
Speaking to newsmen, Comrade Paul Ajie Abang who led the protesters disclosed that they had initially given the state government a seven-day ultimatum to take action or face a massive protest and that it was their silence that has led to the peaceful protest.
According to him, the group had met with the Head of Service and all other relevant stakeholders to resolve the matter but that it seems the government was insincere and reluctant about the matter at hand.
Ajie added that the group will not back down until the right thing is done. Also reacting, one of the protesters who identified himself as ‘Papa’ said the protesters were part of the 2500 workers from the state who were employed and then delisted from the state’s payroll.
“We are the 2500 staff of the state government who were duly employed, got their appointment letter, and then delisted from the payroll by the government. We are taking this struggle upon ourselves because labour has failed us. We are out here fighting for our rights and we have no plan of leaving here until our voices are heard.” he said.
“We are here to let the world know of the injustice being meted to us. for a year and one month now we have not received our salaries and the government is tossing us around.” He added.
In another news, the United Government has reacted to the recent letter written by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State over the visa ban slammed on some politicians in the country over electoral malpractices.
