No fewer than workers of the Edo Line Transportation Services have died since the salary of some of them was stopped in June 2015 by the State Ministry of transport.
The dead are among the 25 workers who were neither sacked from their jobs or dismissed when the state government handed over the management of the firm to a popular Benin transporter, Chief John Adun in 2015.
Breaking the sad news to newsmen during a protest march in Benin City on Tuesday, spokesman for the affected workers, Comrade Tony Bamawo said they were never queried before the sudden stoppage of their salaries, three years ago.
Displaying placards with different inscriptions, such as ‘Edo line: Pay us our salaries, reinstate us now’, ‘Who is speaker Adjoto afraid of?’, ‘Edo Assembly! Reopen our case!’, etc, the aggrieved workers marched through major streets in Benin City including the NUJ Press Centre before ending up at the state Assembly complex at Kings Square.
According to Bamawo, ” today we are protesting the attitude of the Speaker of Edo assembly to our plight. We were 25 originally affected but 5 have since died from hunger and sicknesses.
“Chief Adun as you are aware was the sole administrator of Edo Line who opposed unionism and was averse to labour leaders like many of us who opposed His highhandedness.
“We kicked against the vandalization of Edo Line and the cannibalization of the many vehicles that were abandoned at the time. We reported the incident to government and when he found out, he listed our names to the Ministry which stopped our salaries.
“On 17th March 2017, tired of waiting to hear from the Ministry of transport close to two years, we wrote a ‘save our soul’, petition to the Assembly. The Assembly committee on transport investigated the matter and submitted its findings to the house, which even invited Chief Adun to explain his actions.
“We are here to tell the world that the Assembly adjourned plenary till May 23 2017 but failed to sit. It fixed a date in June 2017 when the chief was to appear again as the matter was up for debate. That was all we heard about the matter.
“All we are saying now is for Speaker Adjoto to slate the matter for debate at the earliest plenary. We are tired. We don’t know why the Speaker is scared; we don’t know why the lawmakers will prefer to be silent while poor, innocent workers suffer and die without committing any offense”.
“Two of our members are relatives of Mr Adjoto and that is why we are begging him. We also beg Governor Obaseki to look into our case. Our families are suffering for no fault of ours. The speaker should speak up and schedule our case. That is all we are asking.
But in his response, Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Kabiru Adjoto while commiserating with the families of the workers who lost their lives in the struggle to have their salaries paid, said the House Committee will reopen the file to ensure that justice is done
“No single individual can be powerful enough to stop the Assembly from doing its work. But the principle of fairness and equity demands that we hear from the accused to ensure justice,” he stated.
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