More than 300 members of the Anambra State Vigilante group, Tuesday, besieged the government house to protest the non-payment of their eight months salary arrears by the state government.
The protesters, who came from various communities in the state, blocked the entrance to the office complex of the Senior Special Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on Security Matters.
The aggrieved members, who spoke to newsmen at the premises, lamented that they were passing through pains given the failure of the government to pay them their paltry sum of N10,000 monthly salary for the past eight months.
According to Mr Okechukwu Nweke from Nise community, “When Peter Obi was the governor, he pays us well. But since Peter Obi left office, we have not been paid our salary. Our monthly salary is N10,000. For eight months now, we have not been paid.
“Before, we were paid cash, but when Willie Obiano came on board, he said we were going to be paid through bank. We agreed but since then till now, no kobo has been paid; that’s why we have come to protest.”
Another vigilante member, Mr Echezona Onyenwe from Oko community in Orumba North council area, alleged that “few members have been paid but the rest of us were not”.
When contacted, the Senior Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Publicity, Mr James Eze, who spoke in the presence of his Security Matters counterpart, Mr Ostar Christopher dismissed their allegations as falsehood.
He noted that “they are few persons who have minor issues with their banks; the government now pays them through the bank; it would be corrected shortly.”
He added that the government had been prompt in paying workers salary but that they were undergoing through verification exercise to flush out ghost workers.
Comments