By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has asked the striking workers in the state to give room for “peace and dialogue” and suspend their one-month-old strike, saying “we don’t want anything else, but peace”.
The governor said this while speaking with journalists shortly after observing Eid El Fitri prayers at the Agodi praying ground in Ibadan.
According to the governor, the time has come for the labour unions leaders to meet with government representatives to share the available fund in the state’s coffers.
Governor Ajimobi maintained that there is the need for the labour unions “to show understanding by coming to a roundtable to discuss the way forward on how the outstanding salaries of workers could be paid as well as the new education initiative of the state government”.
“I am using this opportunity to call on labour and all stakeholders in the state, including teachers, workers, students, traders even the thugs and brigands to come together and join hands with me to improve Oyo State, he said.
The governor added that “Let us live peacefully among ourselves. We don’t want anything else, but peace. Where there is peace, there will be progress. Democracy is about dialogue, not about fighting”.
“We must come to the roundtable. So I am appealing to labour to imbibe peace and dialogue. We will pay outstanding salaries when we have the fund. But let them come so that we can sit together to discuss how to allocate the little money that we have now.”
Speaking on the lessons of Ramadan fasting, the governor charged Muslim faithful across the country to imbibe the lesson of the Holy month of Ramadan in their daily affairs, urging them to guard against returning to some of the sinful acts they dropped during the fasting.
“We should not live differently from the way we lived during Ramadan. We must obey the tenets of Islam and its principles: to be nice to others, to be accommodating, have the fear of God, tell the truths at all times and avoid evil machinations and thuggery.”
Earlier in his sermon, the Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheik Abubaker Agbotomokekere cautioned Muslims against going back to their sins which they left during the month of Ramadan, saying, Muslims should live peacefully with brethren from other faiths and avoid utterances and actions capable of stoking the ember of religious crisis in any part of the state.
