The Bayelsa State Government has debunked a wild claim by a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the government has sacked 28,000 workers as a fallout of the on-going civil service reforms.

The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said in a statement on Friday that the claim made by the factional Chairman, Jonathan Amos, only confirmed the APC in the state as a party that thrives on lies and fraud.

Iworiso-Markson said that Amos and his faction of the APC only made a failed attempt to discredit the well intentioned and generally received public sector reforms in Bayelsa.

He said that Media reports quoting the factional APC Chairman as having described his imagined sack of 28,000 workers as regrettable only shows that he and his misled followers are not abreast of developments in Bayelsa.

The Commissioner said that it was not exactly unexpected for Diaspora and seasonal politicians to display crass ignorance and cling onto anything including lies to seek political relevance.

The Government’s Spokesman stressed that the blackmail from the APC was an indication of corruption fighting the reforms designed to free Bayelsa from the greedy talons of payroll vultures.

He added that any politician attempting to attack the reforms and the removal of fictitious names from the payroll was an enemy of Bayelsa and her people.

He stated that that only those who do not mean well for the State and the unemployed graduates in Bayelsa would fault the genuine intention of the government to rid the public service of ghost workers, over aged personnel and others to create space for employment into the public service.

The Commissioner described the commencement of the ongoing exercise to engage 1000 workers into the public service as a pointer to the benefits of the reforms in addition to the huge financial reprieve from the removal of ghost names from the payroll.

He challenged the APC factional Chairman “to provide one qualified Bayelsa civil servant who was sacked as a result of the on-going reforms to back his spurious claim.”

He restated the position of Governor Seriake Dickson that the reforms were not mean to sack people and foist hardship on the citizens.

Iworiso-Markson said: “It is clear that the APC faction in the state is worried by the wide acceptance of the reforms by Bayelsans. To them, everything must be seem from their primitive prism of injurious politics.

“When you are out against ingrained corruption, what do you expect? Corruption will fight back. This is a classical case of corruption drawing the daggers against the reforms in the name of APC in Bayelsa.

“Anybody faulting the holistic implementation of the reforms hates Bayelsa; Anybody attempting to politicise the removal of fictitious names from the over bloated payroll is an enemy of the unemployed Bayelsa youth.

“What this government has done is what other administrations failed to do because they considered political considerations above the interest and survival of our dear state.

“Who are the 27,000 workers that have been sacked? Where were they sacked from? If the APC is on the ground in Bayelsa, they should have been in a position to parade some of the supposedly sacked workers from the public service.

“The fact is that a party build on a mound of lies can’t stand. This lie should be discountenanced. Bayelsa is not a ghost society. You don’t sack ghost because there is no provision for them in the society of humans. Are they alleging sacking of 27,000 ghosts?”

The Commissioner insisted that no amount of blackmail from the APC or elsewhere would stop the government from implementing the reforms.

He said that the APC in the state could not claim ignorance of the removal of 55,000 ghost names from the payroll by the Federal Government.

Iworiso-Markson added that if Amos had been reading the papers, he would also have realised that similar implementation of Reforms and indeed outright sacking of workers have taken place in many APC states.

•Photo by Lucky Francis shows Head of the Service, Bayelsa State, Rev. Thomas Zidafamo (2nd left), addressing members of the press during a briefing about the outcome of the on-going Public Service Reforms by the State Government, at Government House, Yenagoa, while the Commissioner for Local Government Administration, Hon. Agatha Goma (left) Hon. Ebiwou Koku-Obiyai of the State House of Assembly, Representing Yenagoa Constituency 2, (2nd right), and the Commissioner for Employment, Labour and Productivity, Chief Collins Cocodia (right), look on.

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