Edward David Onoja, Chief of Staff to the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has labelled Dino Melaye a “failed, rudderless Senator” and “the Regret of Kogi”.
Onoja said this in a statement on Monday wherein he reacted to a trending video of an interview posted by a television station under a banner headline he considered “utterly irresponsible”.
Onoja said the station was clearly working against the administration of Yahaya Bello.
“Their unfortunate shenanigans have become comic relief around here. If we cough and they declare there is a tuberculosis pandemic in the state, we have learnt to take a sip water, smile and continue with what we are doing,” he said.
“Were it for them alone, I would not be making this rejoinder. But when our failed, rudderless Senator, the one we all know as the Regret of Kogi, who has no constituency office and who only visits home as elections near to pick fights, takes up on that video and begins to wax songs and dance naked in the marketplace with it, well, then, we must reply.
“Men may sympathise with a madman on account of his insanity, but if he starts trying to burn down the village, they must restrain him – for his health, and others’.
“It is important to understand the positions I espoused on that brief call. My reference to Kogi workers who are owed 12 months of salaries was not directed to those workers who were cleared in the first or second stages of our Staff Screening and Verification Exercise because those ones started receiving payments as soon as they were cleared.
“I meant those who were screened out by the earlier Screening Committees for one reason or the other. Those among them now cleared after the Kogi Stakeholders Congress which ended around 8pm last night are the ones still having delayed outstanding of up to 12 months some cases. However, the Government has promised to do everything within her powers to pay them in full this month.
“To get them to this point after they were initially screened out, the Government, Labour and other stakeholders conferred on the way forward and agreed to reopen the process to see if they could be helped in any way. A fresh Review Committee led by a seasoned team from the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) was therefore set up in January 2017 for this purpose.
“Since no two cases are similar, this Review Committee had to physically listen to every worker who had been declared uncleared previously and who appeared before her. At the end of the 90 days alloted the Committee by Government to conclude her work, about 70% of those who came for review were readmitted into the workforce. Some were found victims of errors by previous Committees, but most were readmitted on compassionate grounds, and not because they were able to objectively overturn their earlier classifications.
“To make that readmission possible Government had to bend over backwards on some offences prescribed in the Public Service Rules which are not ‘too criminal in nature’ (for want of a less inventive description). Such infractions as joining the service while still underaged, multiple declarations of age to put off retirement, stagnation (achieving over 8 years in a particular grade level with nowhere else to go), falsification of academic, work or other documents, mild to serious offences while in service, double employment and salary, etc.
“It is among these class of people, who were slated for dismissal and sanctions before, but who have enjoyed clemency, that you will find those owed up to 12 months. It is to them I made reference. They were already out of the system. In some cases the Government owed them nothing based on the nature of the offences disclosed against them.
“Then the Government agreed to give them another chance. Following this soft landing approach accorded these category of formerly uncleared workers by the Governor, most are now back on the payroll and the Government has assumed responsibility again which was why my BEdward David Onoja, Chief of Staff to the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has labelled Dino Melaye a “failed, rudderless Senator” and “the Regret of Kogi”.
Onoja said this in a statement on Monday wherein he reacted to a trending video of an interview posted by a television station under a banner headline he considered “utterly irresponsible”.
Onoja said the station was clearly working against the administration of Yahaya Bello.
“Their unfortunate shenanigans have become comic relief around here. If we cough and they declare there is a tuberculosis pandemic in the state, we have learnt to take a sip water, smile and continue with what we are doing,” he said.
“Were it for them alone, I would not be making this rejoinder. But when our failed, rudderless Senator, the one we all know as the Regret of Kogi, who has no constituency office and who only visits home as elections near to pick fights, takes up on that video and begins to wax songs and dance naked in the marketplace with it, well, then, we must reply.
“Men may sympathise with a madman on account of his insanity, but if he starts trying to burn down the village, they must restrain him – for his health, and others’.
“It is important to understand the positions I espoused on that brief call. My reference to Kogi workers who are owed 12 months of salaries was not directed to those workers who were cleared in the first or second stages of our Staff Screening and Verification Exercise because those ones started receiving payments as soon as they were cleared.
“I meant those who were screened out by the earlier Screening Committees for one reason or the other. Those among them now cleared after the Kogi Stakeholders Congress which ended around 8pm last night are the ones still having delayed outstanding of up to 12 months some cases. However, the Government has promised to do everything within her powers to pay them in full this month.
“To get them to this point after they were initially screened out, the Government, Labour and other stakeholders conferred on the way forward and agreed to reopen the process to see if they could be helped in any way. A fresh Review Committee led by a seasoned team from the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) was therefore set up in January 2017 for this purpose.
“Since no two cases are similar, this Review Committee had to physically listen to every worker who had been declared uncleared previously and who appeared before her. At the end of the 90 days alloted the Committee by Government to conclude her work, about 70% of those who came for review were readmitted into the workforce. Some were found victims of errors by previous Committees, but most were readmitted on compassionate grounds, and not because they were able to objectively overturn their earlier classifications.
“To make that readmission possible Government had to bend over backwards on some offences prescribed in the Public Service Rules which are not ‘too criminal in nature’ (for want of a less inventive description). Such infractions as joining the service while still underaged, multiple declarations of age to put off retirement, stagnation (achieving over 8 years in a particular grade level with nowhere else to go), falsification of academic, work or other documents, mild to serious offences while in service, double employment and salary, etc.
“It is among these class of people, who were slated for dismissal and sanctions before, but who have enjoyed clemency, that you will find those owed up to 12 months. It is to them I made reference. They were already out of the system. In some cases the Government owed them nothing based on the nature of the offences disclosed against them.
“Then the Government agreed to give them another chance. Following this soft landing approach accorded these category of formerly uncleared workers by the Governor, most are now back on the payroll and the Government has assumed responsibility again which was why my B oss directed they should be paid in full this month of May, including all arrears.
“On the allegations that May Day Celebrations were cancelled in Kogi State as a form of protest against the suffering of workers, the Kogi State Government is just hearing that one now. Government is not owing Labour a dime in statutory or customary contributions. Just two weeks ago at the formal presentation of the the Review Committee’s Report, Labour gave Government profuse thanks for clearing her outstanding and ensuring they will hold robust May Day events in the state”.
