OYO COUNCIL CRISIS: NULGE orders members to stay away from work

Following the sack of elected local council officials in Oyo State and the subsequent appointment of caretaker committees to manage the councils’ affairs by Governor Seyi Makinde, the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) on Saturday directed its members to stay away from work pending the resolution of the crisis.

The sacked council officials and the caretaker committee members have been laying claims to the control of the councils since the crisis started.

The state Chairman of NULGE, Alhaji Bayo Titilola-Sodo, disclosed this at the end of the union’s emergency meeting in Ibadan, the state capital.

He said: “Our members are in fear of a possible outbreak of violence. We have been following the news on social media and the newspapers and sometimes letters were published. We don’t know the authenticity of all these. But we have reasons to be apprehensive about the safety of our members. Should they go to work and these people take on each other, what happens?

“A few months ago, one of the parties decided to go to office after relying on one authority or the other while the other party is still occupying the office. This resulted in altercations between the parties.

“Today, we held a meeting that in order to safeguard the lives of our people, our members should stay away from offices until the weather is clearer, until we know who exactly we are working with and until our safety is guaranteed.

“Until our own security and safety are guaranteed, we shall stay away. We had the State Administrative Council meeting followed by the State Executive Council meeting. The decision was taken by the SEC, which is the highest decision making authority of our union in this state.

READ ALSO: 2023: Buhari didn’t promise to make Tinubu his successor – NIWA chief

“We reviewed the situation on the ground and found out that it is in our best interest and in the interest of our members to stay away from work before they turned our offices into battle grounds.

“You can go to work at your own risk; you have been warned; you have been advised to stay away. No one would be enforcing this, but we believe that our members would comply.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now