Less than 24 hours after about 300 primary and secondary school teachers in Imo State protested over the non-payment of their salaries, no fewer than 1,500 civil servants in the state on Thursday blocked the entrance gate to the state government house in Owerri in protest over their unpaid 12 months’ salary arrears.
The civil servants who, defied the early morning rain, arrived at the government house in Owerri as early as 8am.
They also blocked one lane of the government house roundabout and stopped vehicles from going in and out of the government house.
The development caused panic at the government house, as security men manning the exit entrance battled in vain to disperse the protesting workers.
Carrying their letters of appointments and postings, the angry workers said that they were at the government house to prove to the state governor, Hope Uzodimma, that they were not ghost workers or fraudsters.
The governor had said that those who had yet to receive their salaries up to date were ghost workers and fraudsters.