The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has faulted the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) over its planned protest against the police barricade of the 23 local government council secretariats in Rivers State.
ALGON asked the NULGE to call its members in the state to order, adding that the local council staff members too should refrain from any protest that their leaders want to drag them into.
The NULGE President in the state, Clifford Paul, in a statement in Port Harcourt, yesterday, gave the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, a four-day ultimatum to order his men to vacate the councils they have barricaded or the union would mobilise its members for a protest.
Paul, according to the statement, alleged that the action of the police has prevented its members from going to work from where they provide for their families and the attendant man-hour losses.
Similarly, the state chairmen of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Alex Agwanwor, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Ikechukwu Onyefuru, in a joint statement, also condemned the action of the police and backed the NULGE ultimatum to the IGP.
But the embattled Rivers State ALGON Chairman, Allwell Ihunda, loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, accused NULGE of taking sides in the political crisis in the state.
Ihunda, who stated this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, yesterday, also faulted Governor Siminalayi Fubara for appointing NULGE members who are council workers into caretaker committees for the 23 councils.
Ihunda alleged that this was the reason that NULGE was collaborating with NLC and TUC to stage the protest against the police, pointing out that the governor had gone ahead to appoint members of the Caretaker Committee (CTC) when the court asked all parties in the matter to maintain status quo.
He said: “We are aware that despite the matter in the Court of Appeal, on June 19, the Rivers State Governor went ahead to appoint caretaker committee members for the local council areas despite that the Appeal Court has stated clearly that all parties should maintain status quo on all the suits before the court.”
MEANWHILE, the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and labour unions, have urged the Nigerian police to vacate the council secretariats in Rivers, which have been barricaded for about six days, following the controversial local council chairmen tenure elongation crisis.
INC Publicity Secretary, Ezonebi Oyakemeagbegha, in an interview, yesterday, with The Guardian, condemned the action of the police by taking over the council secretariats. He said that the police are infringing on the rights of workers, and also hampering the economy of the state by its actions.
Similarly, the CSOs have threatened to stage a massive protest should the IGP fail to withdraw his officers from the council secretariats.
In the meantime, the State Caretaker Committee Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Tony Okocha, has commended the IGP and the CP for sealing the council secretariats.
Okocha insisted that the action remains the best way to nip the crisis in the bud, as well as maintain peace and order.
