The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State has raised the alarm over an employment scam by the State Government aimed at using it to regularise the long-concluded employment of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s kinsmen from his Awa clan in Onna local government area and to deceive unsuspecting job-seekers and members of the public that there are genuine vacancies in the state civil service.
The party raised the alarm in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Mr Nkereuwem Enyongekere, following the recent advertisement of vacancies in the civil service by the State Government.
The APC said in the statement that the whole scam was a panicky measure by Governor Udom Emmanuel to regularize the illegal employment he has given his kinsmen, some of whom were employed over a year ago, realizing that he will lose the 2019 governorship election.
The APC maintained that the scam, which it described as wicked, became manifest with the total shutdown of the job application portal by the State Government a day after it was opened and the denial of printout to applicants, even within that brief period, to prevent them from having any evidence of application.
The party accused Emmanuel of unilaterally employing his kinsmen into the civil service by directives to the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission without following due process in the past one year.
The party said that with the reality of election defeat staring him in the face, Emmanuel has set up a special team headed by a permanent secretary to regularize the illegal employment.
Enyongekere, the APC spokesman, said that as a retired senior civil servant he knew that for employment to take place, the vacant positions must first be captured in the state budget and several steps taken after the relevant ministries or departments had sought and got approval to fill those vacancies.
He said that employment in the civil service was not supposed to be done at the whims and caprices of the Governor without following due process and frantic efforts made to regularize it and deceive the public later.
“It is most unfortunate that the Governor could be this heartless that, after sacking 5,000 Akwa Ibom teachers from across the state who voted him to power, which the case is pending in the High Court, he still has the stealthy plan to favour only his kinsmen. Udom should know that the God of downtrodden is alive and is watching all his evil acts,” he said.
