The Delta State Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Titus Okotie, has described the witch-hunting allegations leveled against him by a disqualified aspirant for the Isoko South NUT elections, Comrade Good luck Ezejire as spurious and ill-conceived.
Okotie, in a swift reaction over the allegations leveled against him by Ezejire who claimed that he was unlawfully disqualified from contesting the Isoko South NUT elections because he was part of those who allegedly participated in a peaceful protest by teachers under the aegis of Basic Education Staff Association of Nigeria, (BESAN), on 16th February 2021, said the allegations were not only infantile but aimed at disrupting the relative peace and unity of the NUT in Delta State
Specifically, the State NUT helmsman stated that upon receipt by BESAN vide a letter dated 8th February 2021, that the group would be protesting peacefully on the 16th of that same February 2021, the SWEC invited the aggrieved group for a truce meeting for 11th February which was turned down, even on the 15th February, the eve to their planned peaceful protest.
After all, entreaties to make the group see the reason why they could toe the line of dialogue, they still went ahead to protest, thus daring the industrial harmony that existed in the state NUT.
On the spurious allegation that he is being slammed a three-month suspension to deny him of vying for the position of Chairman of NUT Isoko South, Comrade Okotie stated that the embattled Comrade Good luck Ezejire was summoned before a duly constituted Committee of which he (Okotie), was not a member.
According to the State NUT Chairman, Goodluck Ezejire honoured the invitation of the three member committee , and it was based on the outcome of his presentation that the committee recommended him for suspension for a period of three months.
Furthermore, the number 1 teacher, said, the allegation by Ezejire, that a colleague from lka South, Comrade Jeremiah Okonta, who purportedly signed the protest letter in his capacity as BESAN Secretary, and was even a dramatis personae in the purported 16th February protest, has been given a clean bill of health and even contested as Secretary of lka South NUT, is one allegation too many.
Also, the State NUT Chairman said Comrade Jeremiah Okonta was among those invited by the committee, including Good luck Ezejire.
The Chairman said, the committee which submitted their report, indicated, that Okonta showed remorse for his action, stating that he was sorry for joining a protest that was held on the day the Governor, Senator Okowa, was laying his beloved father, Sir Arthur Uzoma Okorie, Okowa, to rest.
He added that the Committee recommended his pardon, hence he took part in the lka South NUT elections. I don’t know where Ezejire got the belief that l am fighting him. I am a father of all teachers in the State and will carry all along.
While warning that disciplinary measures will henceforth be enforced on erring members, Comrade Okotie thanked Governor Okowa for approving the 2020 promotion of secondary school teachers.
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