By Dayo Johnson Akure

WORKERS under the aegis of National Union of Local Government Employees(NULGE) in Ondo State Tuesday walked out of the Ondo State House of Assembly following failure of the Members of the House of Assembly to pass the autonomy for Local Government.

The autonomy of the council workers is in  clause 4th Alteration Bill to amend the 1999 Constitution.

A protest was thereafter stages  at the premises of the assembly complex.

The workers sang  solidarity songs and demanding that they be given autonomy

They also threatened to vote against the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) in the next election coming up in February 2015.

The Chairman of the ad hoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution, Hon. Afolabi Akinsiku, laid his report on the table and members did not debated or commented on it.

The Speaker Hon. Jumoke Akindele speaking on the matter  said, “As a coronary to the motion that I should use my good offices to adopt the resolution of the members at the parliamentary session, we hereby adopt the decisions reached at the parliamentary meeting.”

After the speaker submission the House simply moved on to another business of the day but this irked the Local government workers who walked out.

Efforts to speak with the Speaker after the plenary proved abortive as she was said to be attending  another meeting

But reacting to the development, the President of the Ondo Chapter of NULGE, Dr. Eni Ayewu, said there was no reason for the rejection of the autonomy clause by the house.

Ayewu said  “Out of the 17 papers presented at the public hearing, only three were against autonomy for local governments, the others supported. So what is the basis for reaching that decision.

“This is not fair. They did not take the opinion of the people of the state into account. We shall meet in February.”