Protest: Radio Bayelsa manager recalls suspended workers

Radio-Bayelsa

The Management of Radio Bayelsa has reversed the suspension of nine workers over an attack on the station by hoodlums, protesting the Supreme Court judgment that sacked erstwhile governor-elect, David Lyon.

In a statement dated Feb. 15, signed by Mr. Pere Fobobo, Acting General Manager and five Directors of the broadcast organisation, it said the purported suspension of the nine staff by the former general manager was ill-advised.

“No staff of Radio Bayelsa is under compulsory leave nor indicted for the attack and destruction of property by some youths on Friday, Feb. 14.

“The decision to send some staff on compulsory leave is not management’s decision, but that of the former general manager, Dr. John Idumange, to destabilise the station.

“Dr. Idumange’s appointment as General Manager of Radio Bayelsa ended with the Dickson’s administration on Feb. 14, 2020,” the statement read in part.

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Idumange, the former general manager of the station, in a statement on Feb, 14, said the nine affected staff were advised to proceed on a one-month compulsory leave to allow the radio station to conduct a preliminary investigation into the incident.

The state-owned FM station, Radio Bayelsa, was amongst facilities attacked by the protesters, who also destroyed the private residences of the immediate-past governor of the state, Seriake Dickson, and his successor, Douye Diri, on Feb. 14.

Part of the secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was also burnt during the protest, which made the Bayelsa Police Command to impose a three-day dusk-to-dawn curfew in the state.

Some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had on Feb. 14 staged a protest on the streets of Yenagoa to register their displeasure ahead of the swearing-in of PDP’s Diri as governor.

The apex court had ruled that Lyon’s Deputy, Degi Ereminyo, submitted forged documents which made them ineligible to contest the state’s governorship election in the first instance.

INEC, in compliance with the judgment, on Friday issued a certificate of return to the PDP candidate, who took the oath of office amidst tight security in the car park at Government House, Yenagoa.

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