There is tension in the Adamawa State capital, Yola, as workers in the state, who are currently asking for unpaid salaries even after the state government announced that they were not recognised, have perfected a plan for a street protest on Monday.
The intending protesters are warming up for the protest in spite of moves by both the police and the Department of State Service (DSS) to stop them.
The government had said a little over a week ago that the workers in question did not exist because they were not properly employed by the previous government who engaged them towards the end of its term.
The previous government, with Sen Jibrilla Bindow as the governor, had left office few months after advancing monthly salaries to the workers, but when the present government was inaugurated in May last year, it set up a committee that issued a White Paper, on which strength the state government announced after its SEC meeting on January 29, that it did not recognise the said workers because they did not function as duly employed workers.
The said workers who have taken exception to that position have insisted that they will hit the streets in the state capital, Yola, on Monday, to demonstrate their grievances.
The Chairman of the ‘Unpaid Civil Servants of Adamawa State’, Faisal Baba, told DAILY POST Sunday afternoon that the street protest would go ahead on Monday, February 10.
“We will do the protest, beginning at 9 am at the Police Roundabout. We will match to the state House of Assembly and from there to Government House,” Faisal asserted.
The group had stated their resolve for the strike last week and had communicated the resolve to the security agents.
The police had responded by advising the group against the protest. On its own, the DSS had invited Faisal Baba to its office Friday evening, also urging that the street protest be shelved.
Insisting on it, however, during a phone conversation Sunday afternoon, Faisal said, “If they really don’t want us to do this protest, Fintiri should return us to the payroll and clear our outstanding salaries.”
“The case of the affected workers remain a controversial one. The government insists the workers never existed and could therefore not even claim to have been sacked or not paid for 10 months.”
The Director General of Media & Communication to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, Mr Solomon Kumangar, said weekend that a duly constituted investigative committee confirmed irregularities around their employment, and that the government relied on the findings and recommendations of the committee to ascertain that the purported workers have no case
