Workers take on PDP over salary cut

PDP workers, not happy at the party’s decision to cut their salaries and reduce staff by 50 per cent have opened up angrily on how that party’s officials ran the secretariat aground financially by squandering about N12bn in nine months.

The workers stated that the party realized N11 billion from the sale of nomination forms while N1bn was got from the sale of delegates forms, but that members of the National Working Committee of the party misused the money between when the sale of the forms commenced on October 27, 2014 till date.

The workers in a response to National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo who had informed them of the party’s decision, queried how that party had spent such a huge amount in such a short period of time.

Prof. Wale Oladipo in his letter, had also informed the workers that “Establishment staff who would remain are required to obtain individual letters of revalidation from their state chapters within one month of this circular to their suitability for service at the national secretariat.”

But the workers, after a meeting in Abuja on Thursday, sent a reply dated July 30, 2015 to Oladipo.it was titled, “Re: Organisation and Restructuring of staff at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party.”

Copies were sent to former President Goodluck Jonathan and the acting Chairman, Board of Trustees of the party, Alhaji Haliru Bello, as well as the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, PDP caucuses in the Senate and the House of Representatives, Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, Dr. Segun Mimiko and all the PDP governors.

Besides querying how the N11bn was spent, the workers also said they were aware that the party realised another N1bn in sales of delegates forms recently.

With this, the angry workers wondered how the party could be in a financial mess.

Their letter to Oladipo read in part, “While we appreciate the fact that the party is no longer in power, we are equally aware that the party realised over eleven billion naira (N11,000,000,000) in income from the sale of nomination and expression of interest forms in the last quarter of 2014.

“We are equally aware that the NWC collected over a billion naira from the sale of delegate forms via a company account called Morufi Nig. Ltd, Zenith Bank Account N0:1014041654.

“With this healthy bank balance, we find it strange that after just two months of handing over power, the NWC is proposing a 50% reduction in staff emoluments.”

They said that they were aware that the NWC members were in the habit of paying themselves huge sums of money after the party lost power during the 2015 general elections.

Read also: PDP re-strategises for 2019

The letter read further, “We have also observed from publications in the media that the NWC shared outrageous largesse among themselves immediately after the party’s loss in the last general elections”.

The workers said they welcomed the decision of the NWC members to reduce their personal staff and also reduce their emoluments.

But they said they rejected “the directives for staff members to get revalidation letters from the state chapters as this act will amount to accepting our unlawful disengagement from service.

“We reject in totality the proposal to reduce staff emolument by 50%. This is because unlike the members of the NWC, the staff are solely dependent on their salaries and allowances.”

They said they still have unwavering belief in the possibility of the party bouncing back, and, therefore, urged the NWC to have the same faith.

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