By Adesanya Akanbi, Abeokuta
ABEOKUTA (Sundiata Post) – Sacked Commissioner representing Ogun East in the Ogun State Civil Service Commission, Hon. Oluwole Ebenezer Olubena, has alleged that sponsored agents of the state government have been threatening his life and that of his family, following “misconception “about his person.
In a personally signed statement made available to journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Sunday, Olubena said he had since alerted the Police Area Commander about the invasion of his residence in Itele, on June 12, when a gun-brandishing man suspected to be an agent of the state government banged on his residence.
The embattled commissioner, who was relieved of his appointment, in a terse statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, also denied any “misconduct” in the discharge of his duty since he assumed the position of Commissioner IV in the service almost five years ago.
“To clear all doubts, I conceive it a duty to put the entire public in the know that before the publication of the news of my sack for ‘misconduct’, I never received any queries or invitation to appear before any panel of enquiry to present my case as provided by the rules of Natural Justice and I still remain in the dark as to what I have done in my official capacity that constitutes a misconduct,” the Ijebu-born Coordinator for Governor Ibikunle Amosun in the run-up to the 2011 general elections in Odogbolu clarified.
Recalling how a suspected government goon invaded his House in the extract of a statement he made to the Police, the Commissioner added that he was away on official assignment in Abeokuta when he got a call that a certain man who said his co-travelers were lurking around , entered his residence and showed the young girl, a student of the School of Health Technology, Ilese that: “Tell Wole that the day of sorrow in this House is short by one today,” having showed her a gun tucked in his inner pocket.
He said the Area Commander ordered the Divisional Police Officer in the area to not only come to have first hand information, but to provide surveillance around the entire vicinity, even as he contended that “after a long dark night, another bright shining day will emerge.”
The Commissioner, who is an accomplished farmer and feed miller said he was not contesting the fact that an employer has the right to sack his employee anytime he pleases, he however said the use of misconduct has to be explained to the public, emphasizing that: “ I have not at any time abused my oath of office, used my office for personal gratification, show dishonest in the position I occupied nor received any query from any quarters in respect of the office I occupied.”
The Former Commissioner however said Amosun must have been misinformed to have conceded to the termination of his appointment, saying that the Governor “in his usual painstaking and fair manner will find out about my unfavourable condition and the way I was treated shabbily”
But, in a swift response to the sacked Commissioner’s allegation of a threat to life, Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa, Secretary to the State Government, said on phone in Aneokuta that, “The law is clear. We have the power to hire and fire.
“This government has shown clearly we are peaceful, it is uncharitable to say this government is after ones lives. I am surprised that anybody in the state would claim that there is threat to his life. He has right to go to court. He should not drag the State to the old days where there was no security of lives.”