The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Osun has denied issuing any directive for local government staff in the state to resume work.
State NULGE Chairman, Dr Nathaniel Ogungbangbe, made this known while addressing a news conference on Friday in Osogbo.
Correspondent reports that local government administration in the state has been unsettled since the Court of Appeal judgment of Feb. 10 in Akure.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) argued that the judgment did not reinstate the sacked All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and councillors elected in 2022, while APC maintained that they were entitled to return to office.
Subsequently, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and NULGE directed council workers to withdraw their services from Feb. 17 over security concerns.
However, the Association of Concerned Local Government Workers on Thursday urged staff to resume at their respective councils to avoid possible job loss.
The association’s coordinator, Mr Adedayo Adekunle, while addressing a news conference in Osogbo, described the seven-month stay-at-home order as unnecessary.
Ogungbangbe, in response, said that the directive by a factional member of the union calling on workers to resume on Monday should be ignored.
He added that those behind the resumption call had been suspended indefinitely for anti-union activities.
According to him, NULGE’s position was in defence of democracy and the rule of law.
“It is highly consequential to note that the state NULGE executives have not directed our members to resume work. It is also important to note that no screening can be done in the Local Government Service without the supervision of the Osun State Local Government Service Commission. Therefore, the leadership of the union is appealing to all our educative and well-informed esteemed members not to hearken to the call for resumption,” he said.
(NAN)