Fashola stops eviction of sacked Lagos doctors

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has directed that none of the sacked Lagos doctors should be evicted from their quarters.

The command cameĀ on the heels of the ejection notice issued by the state Head of Service to the sacked doctors to vacate their quarters by last Friday.

Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Professor Adewale David Oke, who disclosed this toĀ Vanguard,Ā weekend, said even though the eviction notice was in line with civil service rules, the governor expressly maintained that the doctors should not be evicted from their quarters.

Oke who exonerated the state government from the purported forceful eviction argued that if the doctors vacated their quarters, they did so on their own decision.

He said: ā€œYes, there was an eviction order but the governor has given another directive which overrides the eviction notice. The doctors should not be evicted. We already bought some padlocks to lock up the place but we could not do it because of the governorā€™s order. If they are no longer in their quarters, then they left on their own. We only locked up the Association of Resident Doctorsā€™ lounge to avoid invasion of the place by intruders since there was nobody there.ā€œ

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, denied involvement in the eviction notice, saying it was only a procedure in civil service.

He said: ā€œOnce you are dismissed, there are standard procedures for dismissal and that is what the government is following. Now, when you are dismissed, and if you feel aggrieved, you can appeal. And if you appeal, your appeal is part of the negotiation.ā€

Asked if the Lagos Tenancy Law would not be applied in the case, he said: ā€œThe letter says to hand over all government properties in your possession. I am not sure that government will be that hard to say leave government quarters.Ā  In the process of implementing, things like this may also happen. This government is not a wicked government.ā€

Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said the Lagos State government acted responsibly and in accordance with the stateā€™s civil/public service rules in sacking the striking doctors in its employment.

In a statement in Lagos, yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also accused the petulant doctors of flouting industrial laws by declaring the strike that led to their sack without issuing the necessary notice to their employers.

-Vanguard News

2 COMMENTS

  1. ACN and fashola are trying to save face after committing political suicide. what a shame.if you give the doctors eviction notice what do you expect? you forcefully evicted them and now you said they acted on their own.see how you play politics with human life and then blame the doctors for the industrial crisis. ACN is the only party that enjoy sacking striking employees and that will not be forgotten in the coming election. just watch out.

  2. The Yoruba parties, ACN, AC, AD, UPN, AG always have the same background – pack of dictator leadership and self centeredness.Imagine Gov Fashola, so called pig lawyer/political SAN sacking doctors after only 3 days of strike – without even telling the public what the doctors want and what he has done for them. Gov Obi of Anambra had his doctors on strike for 12mths and heaven did not fall. Gov Obi just continued to dialogue with them without sacking them. What a shameful ACN/FASHOLA/TINUBU. Hope they can be chased out of EDO state the way AG was chased out of Midwest region by NCNC in 1963 – ACN ends at ORE – Full stop.