Imo Gov’t Threatens To Arrest Teachers Protesting 12-Month Unpaid Salary

Governor Hope Uzodinma’s led government of Imo State has said that teachers lamenting over unpaid salaries in the state are sponsored by people whose mission is to disrupt his administration and also misinformed the public.

Reacting to the ongoing protest in the state, Uzodinma threatened that security agencies will arrest any protesting teacher, worker or pensioner in the state, insisting that his administration owes no one a penny.

The governor who spoke through his Commissioner for Information alleged stated further that the protesters were not only ghost workers but rented protesters by enemies of his government.

He accused protesters of constituting nuisance in the state and misinforming the public, warning those who engage in that, to desist or have themselves to blame.

Naija News understands that teachers in Primary and secondary school in the state on Thursday, March 18 trooped out in their numbers to the streets of Owerri, the state capital, to protest over 12 months of unpaid salary arrears.

The protesters stormed the state government house in Owerri with their employment details and placards, painting the government in “a bad light.” In her submission, one of the protesting teachers, Mrs Grace Ajaelu told reporters that she had spent 29 years in service, lamenting that she had not received salary since Governor Hope Uzodinma came on board.

She 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 bills. Now the government has refused to pay me and called me a ghost worker. God, why?”

Ajaelu appealed to governor Uzodinma to temper justice with mercy and pay her and other colleagues their one-year salary arrears, adding that they are dying gradually.

Another teacher from Mbaitoli LGA who gave her name as Juliet Akalazu, condemned the Uzodinma government, saying that his administration was suffocating them to death.

According to her, she had not received any kobo as salary since last year. “This government is wicked and insensitive,” she added.

Meanwhile, former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has berated the Muhammadu Buhari-led government for planning to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt Refinery with $1.5bn, Naija News reports.