"Mr. Governor kept us waiting at the venue of the meeting for close to five hours. And instead of him to tender an apology, he told us that he really felt embarrassed by the Tuesday protest, as we the workers shut down the entry to his office. Before we knew what was happening, he stylishly walked out on us," he told SaharaReporters.
A meeting between Labour leaders and the Ondo State government ended with raised voices on Friday.
While the meeting was ongoing, Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Ondo State, "walked out angrily".
SaharaReporters learnt that the meeting was called to deliberate on the true position of the last tranche of the Paris Club Refund.
Civil servants and pensioners in the state had protested for several hours at the entrance of the governor’s office on Tuesday, following an alleged plot by the Akeredolu-led government to divert the Paris Club Refund accurable to the state.
Sources who attended the meeting told our correspondent that trouble started when Akeredolu, who arrived late to the meeting, expressed his disappointment with the labour leaders concerning the Tuesday protest.
"Mr. Governor kept us waiting at the venue of the meeting, which is the Cocoa Conference Hall of the Governor's office for close to five hours. And instead of him to tender an apology, he began to frown and express his disappointment with the protest we organised on Tuesday.
"He was telling us that he really felt embarrassed by the protests as we the workers shut down the entry to his office. Before we knew what was happening, he stylishy walked out on us. Many of our leaders raised their voices in solidarity as he walked out."
Comrade Soladoye Ekundayo, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) told sources close to SaharaReporters that the union would meet to deliberate on the next line of action.
"Although, as I'm speaking with you, our labour leaders are still meeting and we are eager to know their next line of action. But the best thing is to call for an industrial action. Let all the workers sit at home and show their anger with this tyrannical government which doesn't care about out welfare," the source said.
Meanwhile, after the protest on Tuesday, Tunde Akinsanmi, the state Deputy Accountant confirmed that the state government received the alert of N20.9 billion as its own share of the last tranche of the Paris Club Refund.
Akinsanmi later added that the fund was withdrawn by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the state treasury account because the Federal government want to verify Ondo State Statement of Account.
He noted that only Lagos and Osun states had received their own share of refund of all the states in the South West.