Political intolerance appears to have taken top gear in Niger State civil service after 20 workers of Edati Local Government Area of Niger state, mostly women, were allegedly served queries over involvement and participation in rallies organised by opposition parties in the state.
It was learnt that government workers in the two tiers of the state ruled by All Progressives Congress, APC, suffer forms of victimisation and intimidations leading to demotion, deductions or outright withholding of salaries under flimsy excuses.
Diligent investigation so far show that 20 civil servants in Edati Local Government Area were issued with query/suspension letters for attending political rally organised by the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Apart from being queried for participating in PDP rallies, Truthlive.net got unconfirmed report that the August salaries of the victims are being withheld on the allegations that they were on the verge of dumping the ruling APC.
From some samples of letters seen by the online newspaper, the punitive missives were signed by one, Baba Shaba Garba, a Staff Officer, for the Director of Administration, Edati Local Government Area, Niger state dated 2nd September, 2022,
The content of the query with the, Office of the Director of Personnel Management letter-headed paper reads in part; “that you have absconded yourself from duty post on Thursday 28th August, 2022 to attend a political meeting at the PDP office in Enagi’, the Local Government headquarters.
‘Consequent upon this development, you are requested to explain within 24 hours why disciplinary action should not be taken against you for engaging in partisan politics while in active service of Edati Local Government Council’.
One of the victims who elected to speak but anonymously for fear of attracting stiffer sanctions denied the allegations.
According to the victim, she didn’t violate any law but attended the said rally at a free time.
The source added that no law prevents her from partisan politics.
“As a Nigerian citizen, I have the right to attend political meetings after office hours and I am also entitled to belonging to any political party of my choice.
“I did not abscond from duty as alleged”, the aggrieved said.
Efforts to reach the Chairman Local Government Service Commission, Engineer Mohammed Dabban for comments as at the time of this report proved abortive as his phones were unresponsive.
Also, Secretary to Niger State Government (SSG), Alhaji Ibrahim Matane could not pick his calls when the newspaper reached out to him.