7th June, 2023
The new governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has nullified the last-minute appointments into the State Civil Service made by his predecessor, Former Governor Samuel Ortom.
“All appointments into the state civil service made by the outgone administration from May 2022 to date are hereby nullified with immediate effect,” Alia said.
PUNCH recalls that prior to the inauguration of the new governor, the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) had engaged in a war of words over the last-minute recruitment and promotion of workers hurriedly carried out by Ortom.
While the APC through its Publicity Secretary, Daniel Ihomun raised the alarm and accused the then administration of creating a bottleneck for the smooth take-off of the new government, the PDP through its Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom justified the last-minute policies by saying that Ortom remained the governor of the state until noon of May 29th.
But in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kula Tersoo, the governor while nullifying all the recruitments made by his predecessor also ordered all those who had retired but are yet to vacate their offices or duty post either because of extension or contract appointment to proceed on retirement forthwith.
The statement, received by PUNCH, read in parts, “All Civil Servants due for retirement but are yet to tender their letters of retirement or notice of retirement should do so forthwith and proceed on retirement immediately.
“All Civil Servants and or persons appointed Permanent Secretaries from the month of January 2023 to date should revert to their previous positions forthwith.
“All the postings and transfers made in the state civil service from October 2022, to date are hereby nullified. The affected staff should revert to their former ranks, stations, or offices with immediate effect.”