The Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has said labour leaders in the state are conspiring with the state governor, Ayodele Fayose, to frustrate its lawmakers from carrying out the impeachment proceeding against the governor.
According to the party, the governor and the labour leaders conspiracy involves making Ekiti workers to go on a prolonged strike and keep all government offices locked till the expiration of the tenure of the 19 APC lawmakers in the state.
The party, in a statement issued on Wednesday by its state Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said: “It is wicked and selfish for labour leaders to go behind the workers to negotiate a multi-million naira deal for their private pockets while herding other workers on partisan protest that is clearly against the service rule.
“The APC said the labour leaders should not drag the Ekiti workers into partisan politics, alleging that the labour leaders had abandoned the interests of their members to hobnob with the state government for personal benefits.
They equally said it was aware that some labour leaders had so far collected N30m from the state government for various solidarity rallies in the last six months, adding that some of the labour leaders would soon instigate the innocent workers to a politically-motivated industrial action that would last till the middle of June when the APC lawmakers would have left the Assembly.
According to the APC, the governor and the labour leaders opted for the prolonged strike instead of the earlier planned declaration of a forced 10-day holiday starting from May 29, stating that the new deal was decided upon at a meeting of the labour leaders on April 27 where the two options were considered.
The party alleged that the deal was struck after the labour leaders accepted a N10m bribe.
“To set the planned strike in motion, the governor has offered to pay half salary for April, which labour would reject thus leading to a disagreement that would spark a strike action,” he explained.
The party alleged that some leaders of the Nigeria Union of Teachers and the National Union of Local Government Employees were known card-carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party.
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