Mass Resignation Of Workers Hits PDP

About 30 members of staff of the Peoples Democratic Party have resigned their appointment with the main opposition party, investigations by The PUNCH have revealed.

There are about 120 establishment employees in the service of the party.

The gale of resignation, which was said to have started in the Administrative Department of the party a few days ago, has also moved to other departments, including the Publicity Department.

Many directors were said to have turned in their letters of resignation.

Our correspondent gathered that the employees of the once-rich party had yet to come to terms with the cutting of their salaries by the party’s National Working Committee since August.

Besides, they were said to have been told that the agreement reached with the NWC members that they would not sack workers if they (workers) agreed to take a wage cut might not be implemented after all.

One of the workers, who resigned her appointment two days ago but spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, wondered why the party would become what she described as “insensitive to its workers to the extent of cutting our salaries indiscriminately.”

She added that “the soul of this party has gone. All the noise you hear about rebranding is nothing but a sham. It will lead nowhere.

“Majority of us are not only leaving the party’s employment, we are opting out of the party’s membership. We are going elsewhere.”

But an employee in the Publicity Department of the party, Mr. Nwachukwu Ngige, said he was leaving the employment of the party because the PDP, according to him, “now celebrates mediocrity over competence.”

Ngige, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Wednesday, alleged that interlopers had taken over the party.

He said, “We are leaving the party in droves. It is sad. Interlopers have taken over the party’s administration.

“I’m not resigning my membership of the party; I am only leaving as a paid employee of the party.

“But there is no way I will work under those who are inferior to me intellectually. I can’t continue to function when my inferiors suddenly become my bosses.

“The party has become a huge joke where brilliance is punished and mediocrity is celebrated.”

Nevertheless, Ngige, who said he joined the employment of the party on February 14, 2000, said he had no regret working for the former ruling party.

Also speaking, Mr. Kenneth Gyado, who was employed as an Assistant Chief Publicity Officer in 1998, said he was bidding the party a good bye.

Gyado recalled that he and other pioneer employees of the party worked for five months without salaries when they were employed.

He said, “I was employed as a Chief Publicity Officer in 1998 when the party had no name and I joined a few others to work for five months without being paid.

“Those of us who have agreed to leave were told that we would be paid just 50 per cent of our entitlements, but we don’t know how it would be calculated yet.

“Are they going to use the current salary or the one they were paying us before they decided to cut it by 35 per cent? We don’t know yet.”

Gyado however told our correspondent that the party had paid the December salary of its workers.

The Deputy National Secretary of the party, who is also a member of the NWC, Mr. Solomon Onwe, however, said he was not aware of the mass resignation of the workers.

The National Legal Adviser of the party, Mr. Victor Kwon, also said that he had been away for more than two weeks, and therefore, he was not competent to speak on the issue.

He said, “I have been away for more than two weeks. I just returned yesterday, whereas the secretariat had closed for the holidays.

“Because of this, I won’t be able to speak on the matter.”

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