Workers in Ekiti State on Sunday reacted to a “solidarity strike” embarked upon by Governor Ayo Fayose, saying what they need is money not sympathy.
Fayose had on Friday declared that he had placed himself on indefinite strike in solidarity with the workers who had been on strike for about two weeks over non-payment of five months outstanding salaries.
Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state, Odunayo Adesoye, who spoke with newsmen in Ado Ekiti, said “the level of poverty among the civil servants has become burdensome and unbearable to the extent that they have become beggars.
“We appreciate the governor for sharing from our pains and anguish. But the workers will appreciate and commend him the more if he can pay at least two or three months salaries out of five months owed.
“Our situation has gone beyond the governor declaring mere solidarity strike. We need more of actions now than talks because our situation is gradually becoming hopeless.
“Some of us have the intention of going to work, but no money to pay for transport fare. Some of us could not take two meals a day. Some could not cook soup with ordinary fish, so our situation has gone beyond what anyone could trivialise.
“But I want to say that we are resolute to fight on, because it is an issue that borders on our welfare, careers and prosperity.
“We appeal to the workers to be law-abiding. We want them to be civil, even in the face of provocation. By the grace of God, we shall all rejoice in the end.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has condemned Fayose’s decision to join the state workers’ strike, describing the governor’s action as portraying him as unserious leader not prepared for the challenges of governance.
Reacting in a statement on Sunday, APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said the governor’s decision to join the strike portrayed him as a leader who had turned a serious business of governance to “a moonlight drama”.
Berating Fayose for mocking the civil servants by declaring strike in solidarity with Ekiti workers, Olatunbosun said his action spoke much about his personality as “a man bereft of finesse to be entrusted with the leadership of the people for development”.
Describing Fayose’s conduct as a height of insensitivity of a callous leader, Olatunbosun said: “Fayose’s self-imposed strike could not have been in solidarity with Ekiti workers, but a mockery of their present suffering caused by him and which he obviously enjoys.
“Fayose’s lies, inhuman and reckless statement on television that he cannot sell his children to pay salary is an acceptance of failure, so he should resign from that position.
“There is starvation in the state over failure to pay salary, which has made workers’ conditions so bad that some of them have resorted to stealing from neighbours before they can eat.
“Thieves are all over the place carting away foods in the process of cooking in the kitchen while raw foods and soup ingredients, such as yams, garri, tomatoes, pepper, parcels of ‘eba’ are being stolen by hungry Ekiti people.
“How many Ekiti workers can afford to send their children to any of the secondary schools in Ekiti which Fayose have heavily taxed let alone sending them to the highbrow schools that Fayose’s children attend abroad? This is very wicked and inhuman.”
