By David Olalekan.
The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has reportedly ordered some permanent secretaries in the state civil service to embark on compulsory retirement.
INSIDER learnt that some of the nine affected senior civil servants have not attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 years, while some of them have also not spent up to 35 years in the state civil service.
Reacting to their compulsory retirement from service, some of the affected senior officers resolved to challenge the action of the governor in court, alleging that they were removed from service in order to pave way for his “anointed” candidate to succeed the current Head of Service, Mr Toyin Akinkuotu, who was said to be going on retirement in August 2019.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of them said, “He (the governor) retired nine of us (permanent secretaries) because the governor wants an Owo indigene to become the next state Head of Service and the person is junior to some of us, the affected permanent secretaries. That is unfair.”
Another source in the governor’s office affirmed the reports, disclosing that the governor did it in order to appoint a trusted person in the office of the Head of Service.
He said, “What happened is not a new thing in government service. When Mimiko was there, he appointed an Ondo man to be the head of service. So if Akeredolu appoints his kinsman as the head of service, heaven will not fall; he has the exclusive power to do it. He can appoint anyone that pleases him,” he stated.
The Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Yemi Olowolabi, however, stated that the permanent secretaries were not sacked but asked to proceed on voluntary retirement after serving in the office for more than eight years.
The commissioner said, “There is an extant circular to that effect, that any permanent secretary who has served for more than eight years could be retired either reaching retirement age or not and the least of the affected permanent secretaries had spent nine years in the office. So the governor did not give the order to favour anybody.
“The affected permanent secretaries were not sacked but they were called for a meeting where they were told to retire voluntarily.”