MINIMUM WAGE: PDP CHIEFTAIN ACCUSES OSHIOMHOLE OF USING DIVIDE AND RULE TACTICS

Achieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Martins Osakue, yesterday in Benin, criticised the Edo State Government's implementation of the new minimum wage, describing government approach as 'divide and rule tactics.'

Speaking against the backdrop of an indefinite strike that has paralysed all state public institutions, Mr. Osakue observed that Oshiomhole came to power through the sacrifices and support of Nigerian workers, adding 'it is these same workers that are now at the receiving end of his refusal to obey simple signed agreement.

'For the first time, we are hearing of core civil servants and non-core civil servants. Oshiomhole should know from experience that you don't negotiate for civil servants but public service workers and in this group, teachers are usually number one. We see the dichotomy the governor is trying to introduce between core and non-core civil servants as another manifestation of his divide and rule tactics,' he said.

Osakue told Daily Sun that the position of the Edo PDP on the matter was that any government that failed to appreciate the role of teachers in a society was an enemy of progress and did not deserve a day longer to keep the people's mandate.

He criticised Governor Oshiomhole's pattern of infrastructural development, saying the ACN-led government in the state was concentrating on constructing roads and rehabilitating schools located in areas that could be easily noticed to the detriment of over 95 percent of other roads and schools located in other areas which are in total decay. Osakue was particularly angry that the Oshiomhole administration spent millions of naira constructing a water fountain at the Ring Road whereas the state water board had failed since the 1950's to pump water through public taps to citizens of the state capital.

He also spoke on Governor Oshiomhole's alleged refusal to conduct local government election in the state and queried the state Nigerian Bar Association's (NBA's) intervention in the matter belatedly after the governor had sacked duly elected councilors in the state.

'As a man who came through the instrumentality of the rule of law, every average Nigerian expects Oshiomhole to observe the rule of law. This has not been the case.