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| Aregbesola's shame: Donate Relief Materials to Osun Workers, PDP tells NEMA |
The party’s Director of Media and Strategy in Osun State, Diran Odeyemi, made this call in a statement in Osogbo, the state capital, on Thursday, June 11, 2015.
This is as the party commended the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for rallying support for the workers, even as it stressed that the mobilisation of aid for the state’s workers could not be left for the association alone.
The PDP directed its members to begin to bring foodstuff to the party’s secretariats in all the local government areas in the state for onward distribution to the workers.
It said: “The situation in the state requires much more than what religious bodies can cope with.
“We are calling on the National Emergency Management Authority, Red Cross Society and well- meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the workers in the state.
“The situation of unpaid salaries is so bad that many of those in the employment of government have now resulted to begging to feed their family while many have attempted to hang themselves.
“On Wednesday, a man slumped and died in broad daylight at the popular Olaiya Junction, Osogbo, after begging for money to buy drug, albeit unsuccessfully from the traders around and the passers-by.
“The man openly shouted that his relatives that usually give him money to buy drugs have not been paid salaries for months.
“The sad aspect of the story is that the corpse was left at the spot where he foamed and bled through the mouth for a day before his remains was evacuated.
“We also have it on good authority that many of these helpless workers have been evicted from their rented apartment while many others are said to be considering suicide.”
Meanwhile protests has continued to rock the Osun State capital. Human rights activists, some workers and the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties staged a protest on Friday to express their displeasure over the unpaid salaries of workers in Osogbo.
The protesters marched from Igbona area to Olaiya Junction where they addressed journalists.
The protest at the junction caused a traffic snarl but the presence of policemen at the scene was able to
ensure orderliness.
Armed with placards with various inscriptions such as: Pay workers and pensioners their entitlements; Aregbesola, bring back our money, the protesters said they had to use June 12 Day to rally support for the workers who they described as oppressed.
The Chairman, Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice, Mr. Sulaiman Alimi, said in an interview with journalists, that Govern0r Rauf Aregbesola had failed the people of the state.
He said that blaming the past government for the financial crisis in the state was an act of irresponsibility on the part of the current administration.
He called on the governor to resign, saying he should no longer continue in office since he could not find solution to the problem which he claimed was
created by the governor.
He said,“I want to say it emphatically that Governor Rauf Aregbesola has failed the people of Osun State because he created this by mismanaging the allocation which accrued to the state. This is why he has not been able to pay workers for seven to eight months.
“I am using this medium to advise Aregbesola, to resign honourably from office before he will be sent out of Osun State back to Lagos where he and his
allies came from. Aregbesola has failed in running the affairs of the state and the people can no longer bear the untold hardship any longer.”
In a related development, the Osun Civil Societies Coalition which is an umbrella body of pressure groups in the state has called on the Osun State Government to devise means of paying the salaries of worker in the state civil service in the spirit of June 12 celebration.
The coalition which expressed its sympathy at the workers’ despondent condition over the nonpayment of their six-month salaries stated that it would be cruel and ungodly to celebrate June 12 when the masses are hungry in the state.
The Publicity Secretary of the coalition, Mr. Ismaeel Uthman, said this in a statement made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Friday.
He stated that hunger and poor health ravaging the state workers were undeniable as a result of the nonpayment of their salaries.
Uthman said,“We sympathize with the workers in Osun state over their unpaid salaries; we acknowledged how difficult life has been for them because some of the members of the coalition are in the state civil service. We know life has not been easy at all.
“We dedicate this year June 12 to the Osun workers; to specially call on Governor Rauf Aregbesola to timely find solution to the nonpayment of the workers’ salaries. A hungry man is an angry man and there is no appeal for someone that is hungry. Aregbesola should act fast before hunger leads to
death.”
The governor had earlier denied the allegation of insensitivity and financial recklessness being leveled against him over the salary issue.
He said,“This administration remains very sensitive to the welfare of Osun workers. The financial situation of that has made it unable for the state
government to pay workers’ salary is disheartening and painful.
“However, no one can establish a single instance of recklessness on the part of this government.
“Those who want to accuse Aregbesola of not thinking enough on how to generate more funds should also ask how his government was able to raise IGR from N300m to N1.5bn in a spate of four years.
“One major thing common to most of the commentators asking Aregbesola to resign is that they are not ready to place what is happening side-by-side the state of Osun before the Aregbesola administration and where Osun is today in terms of the physical infrastructure.”
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