The Peoples Democratic Party
has administered an oath of secrecy to its members of staff as part of
its efforts to control the flow of information in and outside the party.
The compulsory oath, which took many
of the workers by surprise, was supervised on Thursday by the Acting
National Secretary of the party, Chief Solomon Onwe.
Some of the workers, who spoke with
our correspondent on Sunday, complained about the oath, which they said
was aimed at victimising perceived enemies by some leaders of the party.
They said that some members of the
National Working Committee of the PDP were not happy with them and had
been doing everything possible to replace them with their loyalists.
The workers claimed that Onwe told
them that anyone suspected to be fraternising with journalists might be
summarily dismissed if the party found out that a piece of information was
leaked by any of them.
One of the workers said, “On
Thursday, we swore to an oath of secrecy which the party said was meant to
control the flow of information at its secretariat.
“We were also warned to stay
away from you people (journalists) and that anyone of us who fraternised with
you could be sacked without any query.
“You will recollect that a cleaner
was sacked few months ago for telling reporters that they (cleaners) were being
owed five months’ salaries. That is the kind of treatment they say awaits some
of us, including directors, if they suspect that we are close to you people
(journalists).”
But another member of staff said they
were not surprised with the attitude of the NWC members, whom he accused of
being desperate to fill the secretariat with their cronies.
“You can see their retinue of aides.
None of the former NWC members had the number of aides these
present NWC members have,” he added.
Efforts to speak with
both Onwe and the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh,
on the issue were not successful.
They neither picked their calls
nor responded to text messages sent to their telephones
Tags
Politics