By Ajani Adeoba, Ado-Ekiti
The over 500 secondary school teachers recruited by former Governor Ayodele Fayose into the Teaching Service Commission in Ekiti Sate and posted to rural areas have appealed to the present government of Dr Kayode Fayemi to re-absorbed them back to work.
The affected teachers at a press briefing in Ado-Ekiti today, the state capital, beg the governor to re-considered them over the recent cancellation of their recruitment.
It will be recalled that Governor Kayode Fayemi has earlier cancelled the appointments of over 2000 workers over alleged irregularities in the recruitment excercise.
The sacked workers, alongside some of their dependants, stormed the venue in Ado-Ekiti, claiming they were innocent of the alleged irregularities in their recruitment exercise eight months ago. They appealed to the governor to reconsider their case.
They also displayed the original letters of their appointments, letters of posting anlongside the receipts in which they paid into the government’s revenues account.
Leader of the group, Mr Bayo Omoyeni, said contrary to the pronouncement made by Ekiti government that they were politically vindicated and that they were employed illegally, he said their appointments were in line with the civil service rule.
“We don’t have any political inclinations whatsover. We are all professionals in our choosen field as teachers”.
“During the Fayose-led government, we were at home when vacancies were advertised and we paid N1,000 to buy forms. We wrote examinations and later sat for both wriþen and oral interviews. Scores of the examination results were also pasted at the various ministries.
“Later, those shortlisted as qualified, again sat for separate interview and letters of appointment and posting issued out to successful applicants.
”What was in our letters is that we are to work for three months before getting salaries, but we have not been paid a dime over eight months ago now.
“Government should please be compassionate with us. We were born and brought up here in Ekiti as indigenes, most of us qare long time graduates in search of gainful employment.
”Most of us even, out of the desperation to get pensionable jobs, resigned from private jobs to partake in the recruitment while many others had to relocate to our places of posting without a single kobo of mobilisation since about eight months ago that we were engaged, and has been working very hard to justify our appointments,” he said.
Another victim of the affected teachers, Mr Akande Adekunle expressed sadness that they could be allowed to suffer since October 2018 they were offered employment without any pay till today.
“Our employment went through all the due process. It was a process that was legitimate. When the present government came, we expected them to absorb us since we are all sons and dauthers of Ekiti, but they said we should just be working because our employment was legitimate.
”We have to clarify that we were not sponsored by politicians. We have no godfathers and we believed that government should be a continuum.
”I do not know why we are being treated this way. It is shocking that they said we didn’t go through due process and thereby failed to give us our own rights as duly employed teachers.
“Some of us since the pronoucemment of our disengagement by government are already going nad situations because of the shocking news. We have also file our applealed with the Human Right Commission to help us beg the governor for re-absorption.
“People of goodwill should please help us intervene in this matter. We should not be sacrificed on the altar of politics, we don’t carry party cards,” Adekunle stated.