By Amos Igbebe
Facts emerging from Delta Government House are indicative of a hard time for the people of Delta State as Governor Ifeanyi Okowa takes a hard stance on certain issues put in place by the outgone administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Sources close to government house, Tuesday, alleged that the Governor had passed a circular directing the sack of all civil servants employed from December 2013 till date, citing various degrees of irregularities in their employment.
According to our source, the circular, which is yet to be made public, reveals that the employment contained persons from across the Niger who are not indigenes of Delta State, but most of whom bear names that are similar to names of people in Delta North, who constitute the Anioma area where the Governor hails from.
Besides persons from across the Niger, the source also says the employment of indigenes of the state was one sided, indicating that the former governor employed people mainly from his area of origin at the detriment of other senatorial districts of the state.
As the alleged sack hits the state secretariat, civil servants were apprehensive, especially those who fall within the category alleged to be laid off by the governor.
Many Deltans are currently waiting for the circular to be made public so as to verify the authenticity of the claim in the said circular.
Also, the sources say contracts awarded by the Uduaghan government from January 2015 which have not been completed have been revoked by the new governor of the state.
It will be recalled that Okowa had suspended the recent recruitment exercise which was embarked upon by the outgone administration of Uduaghan for gross irregularities in the employment.
However, when contacted, one of Governor Okowa’s media aides, who has been in the campaign office waiting for appointment into the government, Amaechi Udemba, said he was not aware of any circular directing the sack of any civil servant in the state.
He said “you are the third person calling me now on this matter but I must tell you that I am not aware of anything as such. I don’t know anything about that. The only one I know is the one directing the suspension of the new recruitment done by the State Civil Service Commission”.
