BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

OWERRI-Workers of Imo State origin recently sacked by Abia State Government Tuesday stormed Government House, Owerri, to plead with Governor Rochas Okorocha to absorb them into the state civil and public service.

The dismissed workers, comprising mostly female teachers, health personnel and local council staff, who wore black skirts and white blouses, came in over 15 chartered commercial buses, chanting diatribes on Abia State Government for callously throwing them into the labour market.

The aggrieved workers were armed with placards with various inscriptions, some of which read: “Owelle Rochas is our hope”, “Imo indigenes in Abia State civil service have arrived home”, “Please rescue Imo indigenes sacked by Abia Government”.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Mr. Eze Ikemefula, expressed regret that after serving Abia State Government for several years and with monumental contributions towards the development of that state, Governor Theodore Orji rewarded them with summary dismissal.

Addressing the protesting workers, the Secretary to the Government of Imo State, SGI, Professor Anthony Anwuka, described their plight as “quite pathetic” and assured them that government would definitely do something about their case.

Anwuka recalled that he was “once a victim of the high handedness and obnoxious indigenization policy of Abia State Government when it sacked all non-indigenes in the old Imo State University (now Abia State University, Uturu) upon its creation in 1991”.