The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees(NULGE) of conspiring with the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke of promoting and causing economic adversity in the state resulting in the crippling of the third tier of government in the state.
It would be recalled that the Osun State NULGE withdrew its services in order to sympathize and identify with the administration of Governor Adeleke who has refused to honour the 10th February, 2025 Court of Appeal judgment that reinstated the APC local government council chairmen and councillors since the 17th of February, 2025.
Some members of the NULGE with conscience who saw no justification with the continuous causing of economic adversity in the state broke away from the union to form Association of Concerned Local Government Workers(ACLGW) and promptly ordered the members with like minds to resume work at their various local government council areas.
The wake up call was a huge success as the council workers who had been unnecessarily asked to stay out of their jobs resumed with ecstacy while the leadership of the NULGE denied them that they were not their members.
Subsequent to the denial of the membership of the council workers who resumed work by the NULGE was an announcement of their indefinite suspension by the state leadership of the NULGE that is pungently identifying and doing the bidding of the Adekeke-led administration to aid absence of governance at the grassroots level of government for close to two months running.
The affected patriotic local government workers who have led their members to resume work are: Comrade Tirimisiyu Adekunle from Egbedore Local Government Council Area; Comrade Akinkunmi Adepoju, Oriade Local Government Council Area; Comrade Itiola Bamidele, Ilesa-East Local Government Council Area; Comrade Kehinde Babalola, Obokun Local Government Council Area and Comrade Ayeni Ojo Johnson of Ilesa-West Local Government Council Area.
The question being asked by the discerning members of the public is if it is proper and legally justifiable for a mere pressure group like the Osun NULGE to be conspiring with the state government to be defrauding the state by way of collecting salaries for the job they are not doing?
Another question is whether it is plausible for the leadership of a state workers' union to get neck deep in partisan politics to the extent of becoming a political appendage and a megaphone of the ruling party?
One thing that is noticeable is that while the leadership of the job-shunning NULGE are smiling to their banks through their settlement by the state government, their members have been wallowing in abject poverty, deprivation and want as a sizeable number of them are finding it pretty difficult to pay their compulsory bills like children's school fees, house rents, electricity bills, fueling of cars, cooking gas, monthly contributions, medications and all other necessities of life.
We want to impress it on the leadership of the political NULGE in Osun State that has been approbating and reprobating that its purported suspension of the ACLGW leadership which saw no reason in the promotion of absence of government at the grassroots of government in the state amounted to nothing as the decision to join or not to join a trade union is entirely optional, and no individual or group can force anyone into a membership.
The earlier the leadership of the partisan Osun NULGE comes to terms with the unassailable fact that it can only suspend its members and that the announcement of the purported indefinite suspension of the five members of the Association of Concerned Local Government Workers was a superfluity and an effort in futility as the subjects in issue had since announced their porting out of NULGE.
We implore the courageous patriotic leadership of the Association of Concerned Local Government Workers to stay calm, focused and be committed to their duties with a reminder that their fundamental freedom of association is protected under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
We want to assure the local government workers who prioritize economic advancement over economic adversity at the local government level that they are not alone in this their patriotic service to their state which is strategically and holistically targeted at banishing the obvious failure of local government administration in the state under the administration of the embattled Governor Adeleke.
It is criminal for a certain set of people to continue to take an undue advantage of the pathological challenges of the state executive to continue to defraud the state under the guise of protecting the lives of the staff of the local government councils which has been peaceful for close to two months.
It is only under a weak government like that of Governor Adeleke that trade unions can afford to take an advantage of a governor as active partners in non-profit able ventures capable of sentencing the administration into a journey of no return.
What is certain and crystal clear is that the Osun NULGE under the controversial leadership of Dr Nathaniel K. Ogungbangbe, has given a birth to a child of necessity which is the forward-looking ACLGW under the leadership of Comrade Tirimisiyu Adekunle Adedayo and Comrade Adekunmi Adepoju.
The members of the Osun NULGE should sit up and see beyond their noses that Dr Ogungbangbe whose union body has become factionalized during his tenure is a member of the Nigerian Medical Association(NMA) who has the latitude to practise his medical profession as long as the offices of the local government council areas are under lock and key.
It is inhuman for anyone to fault the leadership of the ACLGW who are patriotic enough to provide desired leadership in the state when it was obvious that the Governor Adeleke government has recorded a monumental failure at the local government level.
What is currently going on in Osun State under the embattled Governor Adeleke is more grievous than the crisis-ridden Rivers State as the local government administration is in comatose due to the shunning of the rule of law by the state government which is keeping in abeyance the landmark judgement of the 10th of February, 2025 which reinstated the APC local government chairmen and councillors.
The Osun NULGE has no genuine reason under the sun to further prolong the illegal sit at home action of its members based on 'security cooncern' which is only existing in the imagination of Ogungbangbe and his cohorts.
Should Dr Ogungbangbe and members of his non-empathic executive NULGE be basking in opulence and riches extended to them by the state government for crumbling the local government administration in the state while the innocent members of the union are wallowing in abject poverty and want? This is the reason it is imperative for the members of the striking NULGE to put on their thinking cap and resume work unconditionally.
e-SIGNED:
Mogaji KOLA OLABISI, Osun APC Director of Media and Publicity.
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