YENAGOA — THE judicial commission of inquiry set up by the Bayelsa State government to probe the crisis rocking Sagbama Local Government Area of the state has begun sitting.
The five-member committee headed by Justice Nayai Aganaba was inaugurated last month by Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to determine the immediate and remote causes of the violent protest that rocked the council a couple of months ago leading to the destruction of the council properties.
The council, one of the original eight in the state had been engulfed in crisis following the non-payment of staff salaries.
The crisis assumed a frightening proportion two months ago when the staff numbering about one thousand barricaded the the East-West road, a federal highway, for about two hours to press home their grievances and attract both national and international attention but the quick intervention of the state Commissioner of Police averted a likely clash between the protesters and commuters along the road.
While the Council authorities’ claim that N47 million would be required to clear the backlog of salary arrears, NULGE blamed the inability of the Council to pay on alleged financial recklessness.
Testifying before the panel on the circumstances surrounding the violent face-off between the council chairman and staff, a Special Adviser to the chairman, Chief Ogoibiriowei Okolo said the council could not pay workers as at when due because of the deductions made at source from the council’s allocation.
According to him, the council staff were angry because the chairman, Mr. Barnabas Edure had used his political secretary as a signatory to the council’s account adding that the non-availability of office space also hampered effective performance of the Director of Personnel Management in the council and that the workers did not give any notice or ultimatum to the council before embarking on their protest.
In his evidence, the chairman of Sagbama chapter of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, Mr. Johnbull Ogola who stressed the need for the Director of Personnel Management to be a signatory to the council’s account alleged that money meant for the September salaries of workers was used in purchasing fourteen cars for councilors.
The chairman also told the panel that credibility and transparency of top officials in the council was one of the problems that led to the crisis.
