Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta
The raging controversy over the sacking of six civil servants in Ogun state over alleged “inciting” examination question has taken a new dimension as the State government today slammed the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) over its petition to the UN Rapporteurs.
The civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), petitioned two United Nations special rapporteurs to request the Ogun State Government to immediately and unconditionally reverse the sacking of the civil servants, as the move breached the freedom of speech, thought and expression, of the affected civil servants.
On Monday,the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights,CDHR,Ogun state chapter,in a press conference held at the NUJ secretariat,Iwe Iroyin,Oke Ilewo,Abeokuta, added its voice, by appealing to #GovernorIbikunleAmosun to reverse the sack order.
But in a response today, the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Taiwo Adeoluwa accused SERAP of jumping the gun and crying more than the bereaved.
In a statement, the government scribe wondered if SERAP had studied the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in relation to disciplinary control over civil servants.
“Had SERAP examined and understood the facts that led to the decisions of the Ogun State Civil Service Commission, it would have appreciated they were not even remotely connected with the constitutionally-guaranteed rights to freedom of thought, conscience and expression or academic freedom, which formed the kernel of its petition to the UN Special Rapporteurs.
“Had SERAP looked before leaping, it would have realised that by virtue of Paragraph 2, Part II, Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, could not have played any role in the disciplinary measures against the workers.
“The paragraph states that (1) The Commission shall have power without prejudice to the powers vested in the Governor and the State Judicial Service Commission to –
(a) appoint persons to offices in the State civil service; and
(b) dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding such offices.
“The Commission shall not exercise any of its powers under sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph in respect of such offices of heads of divisions of Ministries or of departments of the Government of the State as may from time to time be designated by an order made by the Governor except after consultation with the Head of the Civil Service of the State”,the statement reads in part.
The state government,in its submission,advised the civil society group to approach the Ogun State Civil Service Commission for relevant information in order to be well guided.
In its intervention on Monday, the CDHR State Chairman, Comrade Folarin Olayinka during the press conference described the recent sack of the English Language examiner, Mr.Adegbenro Jolaolu, and five others as unjust.
The group, in a 5-page letter to Amosun through the office of the Head of Service, Mrs.Modupe Adekunle, begged for leniency.
The CDHR Chairman said the committee discovered that the controversial Summary Section of the English Language examination for the Junior Secondary School,JSS 3 was not aimed at embarrassing the state government and any other state of the federation.
“Upon the intervention and investigation conducted by the CDHR,Ogun State, it was found out that the misinterpreted indirect constructive criticism question does not aim at embarrassing the Ogun State government,as no state of the federation was mentioned in the summary question,rather it was to promote academic excellence among the students,whereby avoiding recycling of past questions,but to raise the pupils’ ability and academic standard in Ogun State.
.