Magistrate with 5-month-old baby protests unpaid salaries at Gov’s office

 

A Senior Magistrate with the Cross River State judiciary Rita Ititim, had no choice but to bring her five-month-old baby to press home the depth of her plight.

His Worship (as the magistrate is addressed) Ititim was compelled by her condition to take the new born along with her as she joined other magistrates to protest 26 months unpaid salaries at the Governor’s Office in Calabar.

The band of protesters took over the road leading to the Governor’s Office, early morning Monday, March 22, 2021, demanding that Governor Ben Ayade should pay them their wages.

Ititim was one of the 29 magistrates who trooped out with placards bearing various inscriptions to pass their message.

She said her baby had been exposed to danger because she had not been able to buy drugs, foods and other essentials for her because she has been owing the pharmacies.

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“I feel very terrible that I have been forced out in this cold with my baby to be attacked by sand flies.

“I feel very terrible. I am close to tears that my baby has to cope without drugs and foods,” she said.

Spokesman of the protesting magistrates, Solomon Abuo, said, “In January 2021, when we met with the governor, his deputy and attorney general of the state over our plight, he (Ayade) assured that he would defray the backlog of the 26 months salaries.

“We are most surprised that he has again reneged on his promise.

“It is very sad, unfair and heartlessness for the state government to treat us this way.

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“Some of us have been evicted from our apartments over the inability to pay our rents.

“At that meeting, Gov Ayade set up a committee headed by his deputy, Prof Ivara Esu, who has since submitted his report to him.

“All that remains is for him to append his signature so that we can be paid. But we wouldn’t know why he doesn’t want to pay us.

“He agreed that the state government engaged us procedurally,” Abuo lamented.

Daily Trust reports, however, that Christian Ita, a senior special adviser to Governor Ayade, in an earlier reaction, said the protesters were not properly engaged.