Unpaid Salaries: Group Demands Resignation Of Gov. Yahaya Bello Following Death Of Edward Soje

The United Global Resolve for Peace (UGRFP), an NGO, has called for the immediate resignation of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and the disengagement of the state’s Head of Service, Mrs Deborah Ogunmola. UGRFP, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, said that the duo should quit office over their complicity in the death of Mr Edward Soje, who died over abject poverty caused by unpaid eleven months salaries.

The statement was signed by Mr Olaseni Shalom, the Executive Director, UGRFP. Soje, a Director in the Kogi State Civil Service, committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree in Lokoja, the state capital on October 21. His body was found dangling on a tree behind the mammy market at the Maigumeri barracks, the Nigeria Army Command Record. Soje, a Grade Level 16 Officer in the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission, was allegedly being owed 11 months’ salary arrears as at the time he took his life.

The Kogi State Government, had in its reaction, said that Soje was last paid salary in December 2016. The state government dispelled media reports that Soje took his life because he was being owed salaries. Ogunmola, in a statement, said that there was no evidence that he committed suicide because he was being owed salaries. She said that Soje’s salaries were delayed because of age falsification. Ogunmola said that despite being indicted, the state government was merciful enough not to dismiss him even after he had confessed on video.

Photo Credit: Getty

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