Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, has issued a threat to any teacher, worker or pensioner protesting that the state government is owing to them.
He insists that those protesting against the government order are not only ghost workers but also hired government enemies to give the public wrong information about the government.
Speaking through his Commander for Information, the government accused the teachers protesting of constituting pest in the state and misinforming the general public.
He further warned them to desist, or they would have themselves to blame.
Both primary and secondary school teachers in the state on Thursday begun a protest in Owerri, the capital city of the state, demanding that the government pay their 12-month unpaid salary arrears.
Over 300 protesters stormed the government house, Owerri, with their employment details and placards, putting the government in ”a bad light”.
One of the protesting teachers, Mrs. Grace Ajaelu, told a journalist, saying she has spent 29 years in service, crying that she hasn’t received any salary since Governor Hope Uzodinma came into power.
Grace said:
“I was employed and started teaching in 1992, but since the tenure of Senator Hope Uzodinma, I have not received a dime. The last salary I got was in February 2020.
“This is complete 12 months now, no salary. Why would the Governor tag us ‘ghost workers’ after 29 years of active service? This is the height of insensitivity and callousness.
“I’m getting ready for my retirement. I have no other source of livelihood as a widow. How will I take care of myself and my family? Hunger is ravaging us in the house. This is the means by which I pay my family’s bills. Now the government has refused to pay me and called me a ghost worker. God, why?
“I appeal to the Governor to temper justice with mercy and pay us our one-year salary arrears. We are dying gradually.”
Another teacher who hails from Mbaitoli LGA, identifying herself as Juliet Akalazu, said the Governor is suffocating them to death. She confirms that she’s spent eight years in active service.
Juliet recounts, “since March last year; I have not received any kobo as salary. This government is wicked and insensitive,” she added.