By Abubakar LAWAL, Lafia
Governor Umar Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has dissociated himself from rumours being peddled that he has sacked one Bar. Rukkaya Tijani for her comments on facebook during the Labour strike in the state.
His Special Assistant on Media, Ahmed Tukur said his boss is not aware of the happening but they are going to investigate the matter to avoid future occurrence.
“You are aware that Governor Al-Makura has regards to civil servants and above all rule of law”, he said.
The controversial Rukkaya Tijjani, State Counsel in the Ministry of Justice received shocking news of her life when a letter indicating termination of her appointment as civil servant dated 25th February 2016, with Ref. No. NCSC/S/DIS/015/VOL.1/77 was given to her.
Findings revealed that Rukkaya who has been on Grade level 10 step 1 since March 2, 2012 as a Senior State Counsel has however sent a Letter of Complaint to the Chairman, Joint Public Service Negotiation Council, regarding her summary disengagement from the state civil service.
“I write to register my complaint to the congress with regards to my involvement in the last strike action in the state, which subsequently led to the termination of my appointment”, she complained.
In the letter of complaint, the victim of Labour Union strike further stated that government action against her was due to her Facebook post of 17th February, 2016 which she said “I can see political thugs on the street protesting and not some professionals…are we going down this way?? I weep for my state”
She also said a post she made on 27th January, 2016 which she talked about Lassa fever in the state must also have contributed to her ordeal explaining that full content of her post can be found on her Facebook page with the name, Rukey Tee”.
“Here are some portions of the 27th January posts: “what proactive measure has the Nasarawa state government taken since the outbreak of Lassa fever in the state”.
The letter which was copied to Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria has been receiving condemnation from the general public.
According to the victim, “the termination of my appointment by Governor Al-Makura is an act of intimidation as everyone has a right to express his or her view”.
She continued “I was called by the Secretary to the State Accountant General that my attention is needed at the Government House and when I got there, the Permanent Secretary, Government House took me to the office of the Governor Umaru Al-Makura on Monday around 10:30 to 11 am and I was threatened and intimidated by the Governor himself for the post I made on my Facebook page.”
The state Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Abdullahi Adeka assured that the Union would go extra miles to ensure all agreement reached between government and labour is adhered to including none victimisation of anybody who took part in the workers strike.
Leave a Reply