Bayelsa State | Thugs attack protesting council workers, journalists

There was pandemonium at the secretariat of Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, on Tuesday as thugs descended heavily on workers protesting backlog of unpaid salaries.

The thugs reportedly used bottles, stones and other weapons in the attack that injured the workers who were demanding the release of the Federal Government’s bailout fund.

Journalists were not also spared in the attack as some of them sustained injuries and had to scale the fence to escape the violence.

But the aggrieved and hungry workers, including pregnant women, were said to have had a terrible outing as they tried to dodge bottles and several stones hurled at them by the hired thugs.

Some of the workers who escaped from the scene of the incident accused the council chairman, Mr. Oforji Oboku, of sending the thugs to unleash mayhem on them.

The workers alleged that the chairman, who was in his office, watched as the thugs molested them unhindered.

The workers in the joint protest comprising members of the National Union of Local Government Employees and Medical and Health Workers Union were said to have first stormed one of the commercial banks where the bailout was reportedly kept to request for the money.

The bank management was said to have informed them that the relevant government officials had yet to sign their column of a form instructing the bank to release the money to them.

The workers were said to have marched to the Ministry of Local Government where they were directed to seek explanation from the Yenagoa council chairman.

But trouble was said to have started when the chairman reportedly refused to address the workers who were already at the secretariat chanting solidarity songs.

One of the protesting workers, who craved anonymity,  said,  “We were told that the chairman said he would not talk to us. Shortly after that, we saw thugs numbering over 15 attacking us with planks and hurling stones at us.

“The thugs even went to lock the gate, making it difficult for people inside to run away. We were thoroughly beaten.

“To escape the scene, some of us scaled the fence, others ran into offices and some corners to seek protection. It was a terrible experience.

The state Secretary, MHWU, Mr. Arafat Nwibani, described the attack on the workers as barbaric and uncivilized.

He said  the joint unions would embark on prolonged protest to demand the removal of the chairman.

He noted that many of the workers and some journalists were injured, adding that they lost their handsets to the thugs.

Narrating the incident, he said, “I am perplexed that due to the non-release of bailout bank instruction by the chairman of Yenagoa along with Ekeremor, we decided to embark on a peaceful protest to the bank.

[punchng]