Shocking! Osun Lawmakers Sweep Floors Themselves as Cleaners go on Strike

Posted by George on Wed 12th Aug, 2015 - tori.ng

According to a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Lanre Ogunlefe, the non-payment of the salaries of Osun state civil servants has forced the lawmakers into sweeping the floor of the Assembly as the workers have shunned their duties.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola

As the lingering crises of non-payment of workers' salaries persist in the Governor Rauf Aregbesola-run Osun state, lawmakers have taken to doing the menial jobs at the state house as the workers have joined the on-going strike.

Punch reports a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mr Lanre Ogunlefe reportedly witnessed the Majority Leader of the House of Assembly sweeping the floor of the Assembly by himself because workers refused to come to work. Ogunlefe made this shocking revelation during a telephone interview with Channels Television on a programme titled "Sunrise Daily".

“And when we got to the House, the Majority Leader was sweeping the floor of the House and trying to make the House conducive for the meeting. There were no workers there and I said how can a Majority Leader be sweeping the floor? Then a policeman said, ‘You know that workers are on strike, ” Ogunlefe said.

Reacting to the petition written by Justice Folahanmi Oloyede against Governor Rauf Aregbesola which was dismissed by the Osun legislature,Ogunlefe accused the All Progressives Congress lawmakers of giving inappropriate backing to the governor who is being charged with the misappropriation of funds.

“The House of Assembly consists of APC and PDP members. Only APC members constituted the ad hoc committee which investigated the matter. And in a House that has both the APC and the PDP, you would expect that some PDP members would be part of the committee.

“They did not even want to grant us a hearing. They said the governor had responded and I said can we have a copy of the response but they refused give it to us.

“They said we should provide evidence. The evidence is there. Projects are abandoned. Hospitals are closed. A very young boy of about seven was brought to the hospital and his arm was about to be amputated because he could not get anti-tetanus injection, " he said.

The senior advocate said it was unfortunate that nearly all the states in the country could not pay salaries including oil-rich states such as Bayelsa and Delta. He said that governors would curb their excesses only when the immunity clause is removed from the constitution.