The protesters
Jethro Ibileke/Benin
Tragedy struck in Benin Wednesday when a staff of Esan North East Local Government Council, identified as Peter Ayewoh, slumped and died during a mass protest by members of the Edo State chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), over unpaid salary arrears.
The deceased said to be in his mid 50s, was attached to the Works Department of the Council.
The protesters numbering over 3,000 from across the 18 local government areas of the states and armed with placards with various inscriptions, were protesting the non-payment of their accumulated salary arrears.
They had earlier shut down the city centre and created traffic gridlocks in adjoining streets for several hours. They later took their protest to the Secretariat of the Edo Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) where their leaders addressed them.
Leaders of the union in their various speeches, decried the attitude of Governor Adams Oshiomhole to the plight of the workers, alleging that he had abandoned the workers who voted him to power.
Specifically, National Treasurer of NULGE, Joshua Irapakob said if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was willing to pay the workers’ salaries, they were ready to vote for its candidate in the September 10 gubernatorial election, even as he called for unity of purpose among the workers to enable them achieve their cause.
Addressing the protesters, the National President of NULGE, Comrade Ibrahim Khaleen, accused Governor Adams Oshiomhole of using the workers and dump them after they rallied to elect him into power.
“That time, there was discrimination, no segregation, but because he is exiting power, he believes he can rubbish local government workers,” he alleged, even as he promised that the national secretariat of NULGE would identify with the workers and called for more mobilisation to see the end of the …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
