By Iliya Kure
A civil society organisation has raised alarms over alleged plans by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, South-South Nigeria to eject civil servants from government quarters.
A statement in Port Harcourt by the Convener, Peoples Rights Protection Initiative, Sebibo Chris Finebone said the move is to pave way for the Governor to share the houses to politicians in his Administration.
“With 22 months to the end of its lifespan, the Wike administration has revived its plan to eject civil servants from government buildings and quarters in the Government Reserved Areas (GRAs) to pave way to sharing those buildings amongst the administration’s top politicians.
“What many had long suspected became reality last week when the government through the Head of Service, Mr. Godwin Rufus summoned top civil servants and verbally handed down the directive for those occupying government quarters in the reserved areas to prepare to quit such quarters. Fearing that the move will receive harsh response by the civil servants and the public, Mr. Rufus decided to hand down the directive verbally instead of doing so through the usual government memo.” the statement said.
About two years ago, Governor Wike’s Administration, according to the statement, planned the process of ejecting civil servants from government quarters in the GRAs but backed down due to massive resistance from the civil servants and the public.
The re-allocation of the buildings, the Statement claimed, is to take certain predetermined ethnic line in view of the raging argument of the true ownership of Port Harcourt.
It further alleged that Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) will be hurriedly issued to their new owners who have already been shortlisted to reflect the preferred ethnic group.
According to the statement, the present move is expected to be prosecuted to its logical conclusion since the politicians have become desperate to share those properties as the Administration winds down in office.
It therefore advised civil servants presently occupying such property to resist through legal means, any attempt to eject them from the quarters.