News update: Commissioner for Justice, Ekpenyong Ntekim, publishes local government areas of origin of 19 law officers recently retired in Akwa Ibom

                                                         Commissioner Ekpenyong Ntekim

By Nse Peter

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Akwa Ibom State, Bar. Ekpenyong Ntekim has published the local government areas of origin of the 19 law officers recently retired in the state’s Ministry of Justice.

Three of the affected law officers are from Uruan Local Government Area, while two are from Onna, same with Ikono. The following local government areas have one each: Uyo, Urue Offong/Oruko, Ikot Ekpene, Eket, Etim Ekpo, Mkpat Enin, Oruk Anam, Ibesikpo/Asutan, Udung Uko, Ibiono Ibom, Essien Udim and Abak.

The areas of origin of the 19 retired lawyers which was posted last Thursday on Bar. Ekpenyong Ntekim’s facebook wall, is an update on the retirement announcement earlier published on the commissioner’s facebook page, and may be seen as a move to preempt people from giving ethnic colouration to the retirement exercise.

THINK AKWA IBOM! has however not been able to find  out if the news of the retirement has  been published yet in any state-owned media in Akwa Ibom.  

Meanwhile, the chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Akwa Ibom State, Comrade Unyime Usoro has described the retirement of the 19 law officers as ‘premature’.

“We have received complaints from the law officers, who before their premature retirement were all heads of directorates and departments in the Ministry,” says Unyime Usoro in a public statement.

“We have encouraged the Trade Union Congress (TUC) whose members were affected by the exercise to take the matter up with government on the grounds that these officers, all civil servants, were sacked without going through due process.”

Usoro says “the NLC will support any action the TUC and, possibly, NBA would like to take to discourage acts of administrative rascality in governance.”