The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West has told Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, elected on the ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to resign if he cannot pay workers in the state the N18,000 minimum wage.PDP's zonal Publicity Secretary, Mr Kayode Babade, said in a statement issued on Sunday that it was the height of wickedness for a governor, who has over 1,000 political appointees that are earning an average of N300,000 per month to deny civil servants the payment of N18,000 as minimum wage.Governor Ajimobi had said unless the Oyo State government borrows N135 million on monthly basis in addition to the state revenue (both federal allocation and Internally Generated Revenue), it will be impossible for him to pay the workers the salary.However, Babade, in his reaction said: 'We in the PDP have (a piece of) advice for him. He should please resign and let someone else, who won't see Oyo State government in terms of naira and kobo take over the affairs of the state.'Let Governor Ajimobi be reminded that former Governor Adebayo Alao- Akala, who approved the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage did so in the understanding that the state has the capacity and capability to pay.'Besides, didn't Governor Ajimobi promise the workers the N18,000 minimum wage during his electioneering campaign''So if it is now difficult for him to meet his obligations to the people of Oyo State, who elected him, why then is he still in office as governor'While reacting, the ACN, Oyo State chapter, said,'it is indeed an anti-climax and an inappropriate analogy for the PDP to bring Alao-Akala into any meaningful discourse on political leadership. If it is a discourse on heist as leadership, where Kamuzu Banda, Mobutu Sese-Seko are the reference points, then it would be excuseable.'If before now we doubted that the PDP is the proverbial drummer whose song is being echoed by the dancing fly on top of the river, and thus fuelling the state labour crisis, now we have confirmed the unholy alliance. It is a shame that the PDP, which was roundly defeated at the polls, lost flatly in the courts, is now seeking to play the Samson option by seeking to pull down the house that our forefathers constructed in Oyo State,' the ACN said.The party said it did not need any grammatical or psycho-analyst to call anyone's attention to the similarity and symbiotic relations betyween the rump of labour leaders in Oyo State and the recent release from the PDP.The ACN said it was wicked propaganda and 'political perfidy carried to the extreme' for the PDP and its 'labour hirelings' to allege that Ajimobi had 1000 political appointees, maintaining that the present government is a direct opposite of the past administration and does not have a quarter of the political appointees Akala had 'before his disgraceful exit.'We are alarmed at this wicked lie. It is political subterfuge that marked PDP rule in the South West before its disgraceful ouster. Ajimobi is one of the most prudent and frugal leaders Oyo State has ever had since its creation' the party said.The ACN said if the splinter group in labour was not singing the song of the PDP, the fact that the state government was paying more than the federally-legislated N18000 minimum wage was enough for any reasonable labour leadership to commend the ACN-led government.
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