Fayemi denies sacking over 2, 000 civil servants employed by Fayose

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state on Friday refuted claims that his administration sacked over 2, 000 workers employed by his predecessor, insisting that no genuine staff of the state civil service was sacked by his government.

Fayemi’s denial is contained in a statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, Olayinka Oyebode in which he stated that he was only correcting the fundamental error of former Governor Ayo Fayose.

The statement by Oyebode said that “Fayemi never sacked anyone. You cannot sack people who are not duly employed in the first place. The so called recruitments carried out were obviously mischievous because it neither followed due process nor was it ever completed.”

He said the affected persons were not duly captured in the civil service structure, reiterating that “apart from a letter of employment purportedly given them, they do not exist in the state civil service nominal pay roll. Besides, they were never captured in the state’s biometric payment system and never received any salary since the purported appointments since October 2018.

“You can imagine 2, 000 applicants who did not know the offices or jobs they were being employed for. An application form that did not indicate the position each applicant was vying for.

“So, this means they were arbitrarily assigned to jobs after an unprofessional interview process. How logical is it for a government that was owing nine-month salary/pension to add to wage bill?

“The Local Government Service Commission and others saw through the scam and refused to issue phony letters to purported employees. Public notices and announcements of warning were issued to the public by the incoming administration then, that a government that had less than 45 days to leave office should not engage in a theatre of the absurd, but the affected job-seekers ignored the caveat.

“The said application fee of N1, 000 paid by each of them were paid to fraudsters and not into government account. A genuine government recruitment application fee will be paid into treasury single account and not into private accounts.”

According to the statement, a proper recruitment process will begin as soon as the head of service ascertains the available vacancies in the public service in line with the directive of the governor

“All Ekiti indigenes, including those 2, 000 persons whose illegal appointments were cancelled are qualified to apply,” it further said.

Meanwhile, the organized labour in the state has said it would intervene in the plight of the sacked workers who are victims of the past government’s appointments.

State Chairmen of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joshua Kolapo and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Sola Adigun respectively, said everything would be done to persuade government to back down on the sack of the affected workers.

“We know ordinarily that what we are out to fight for, is not a right. It is just to persuade and beg at least in the interest of innocent job -seekers and their dependents.

“We will let government know that the newly recruited staff are not in any way at fault. We will also let them know that two wrongs do not make a right, especially when you consider the high rate of unemployment and the desperation that accompanies such circumstances,” they stated.