Teachers in the employment of the Osun state government are poised for a showdown over scheming to illegally extend the stay of Comrade Amudah Waleed Alade, the Chairman of the State chapter of National Union of Teachers (NUT).
By civil service rule, Amudah had ceased to be a civil servant in Osun state after his time in the service came to an end on August 31, 2020, but Governor Gboyega Oyetola-led government held him back through an unjustified service extension.
Initially, Governor Oyetola planned to prolonged Amudah’s stay in the service by two years but later reduced it to six months following an exclusive report from Docpetinfo exposed the illegal arrangement.
The plan to extend Amudah stay in the civil service, and by extension, retain him as NUT chairman illegally, it was learnt was purposely for political gains. The development caused ripples among teachers in the state who protested the decision of Oyetola as a bad precedent that could posed grave danger to the sustainability of the teacher’s body.
Many of them copiously pointed to labour labours, and how Amudah’s continued stay in state civil service violently stood against several provisions of the law. “Section 8 of the public service rules stipulates that compulsory retirement age for all grades in service shall be 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier,” a senior official in Osun NUT pointed out.
On the continued stay in office as NUT chairman, he pointed to Article 4, section 1, which provisioned that “Every teacher in the employment of the Federal, State, Local Government and any other approved educational institution shall be a member of the Union.”
Notwithstanding these clear provisions of the law, Amudah is adamant in remaining in the state’s civil service and with the six month extension granted him by Oyetola last year coming to an end, he’s lobbying government officials to get a fresh extension.
According to sources, Amudah has been meeting with senior government officials to lobby their supports in getting the Governor to extend his stay in the state’s civil service.
Findings by this newspaper showed a growing frustration among teachers in the state, who argued that reducing an important union as NUT to political settlement, will have far-reaching consequence, asking Governor Oyetola or anyone behind Amudah to find political position to compensate him and not the NUT.
“Oyetola should stop being selfish and without delay, end the shenanigan that is strangulating a vibrant union as NUT,” a teacher who doesn’t want her name in print noted, adding that “Since Amudah has exhausted his time in the state’s civil service, Oyetola should find one of the numerous political openings around and fix him there. That is more honorable than the illegality they have been perpetrating with the civil service and our darling NUT.”
