GLOBACOM SACKS 54 ENGINEERS

Globacom on Friday sacked 54 of its power engineers across the country and gave no official reason for the action.

We learnt that the affected workers received official notification from the company that it no longer needed their services.

The notice of disengagement, it was gathered, also instructed them to submit their staff identification cards and customised Subscriber Identification Module cards with immediate effect.

The letter read in part, “This serves to inform you that your services are no longer required by Globacom Limited.

“Consequently, you are advised to report to the Human Resources Manager, Globacom Manpower Services Limited, the outsourcing company, with immediate effect.

“You are also expected to hand over all company property (including SIM card, company ID, etc) issued to you during the course of your services with us.

“We wish you all the best in your future endeavours.”

One of the affected engineers described the sacking as a “huge shock.”

He said, “I can’t believe it is real… being told that my services are no longer required without explicit reason. I am still in shock.

“For someone like me who has been working at Globacom for seven years and has been managing about 150 power stations for more than two years now, to be sacked in this manner is unacceptable.”

He dismissed speculations that the sacking might be connected to professional misconduct, especially related to theft of equipment or over-costing of generator maintenance or fuelling fee.

“Using myself as an example, I have been in charge of over 150 sites, operating them without official vehicle or basic transport allowance, yet there has been no case of stealing or anything else under my area of operation,” he said.

He described his ordeal and that of his colleagues as “part of the oppressive and exploitative system in Globacom,” adding, “They just decided to drop us to cover up their mess.”

He said, “Globacom has gained notoriety in the industry over cases of poor remuneration, slaving working conditions and arbitrary rewards and punishment systems or procedures.

“Globacom is a place where the bosses are involved in all kinds of deals to make money and sacrifice the junior staff to cover up their tracks,” another staff who pleaded not to be named for fear of being sacked disclosd.”

He added that following the sudden purge of power eng

ineers, those spared in the affected department had begun running double shifts to cover up for the loss of workforce.

“As a result of this sacking, most of us remaining now work day and night to cover up and it has really made things very difficult,” he said.

When approached, employees at the Public Relations Department of the telecommunications firm declined reacting to the development.

OBANIKORO’S DAUGHTER DRILLED BY THE EFCC OVER N800M TRANSACTION

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday quizzed Shalewa Obanikoro, the daughter of a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, over a transaction of N800m she allegedly made.

Investigators said that Shalewa was grilled at the Lagos office of the EFCC for several hours alongside her mother, Moroophat.

An impeccable source at the anti-graft agency said as part of investigations into the N4.7bn allegedly paid into the company account of Obanikoro’s sons – Babajide and Gbolahan – by the Office of the National Security Adviser, the commission started investigating some other members of the family.

The detective said, “Obanikoro’s wife came to our office on Friday morning as part of investigations into the N4.7bn paid into Sylvan McNamara, a company owned by her sons. During investigation, we stumbled on the account of an oil company. We then discovered that Obanikoro’s daughter was a signatory to the account of the oil company and that millions of naira was paid into the account at different times.

“We then invited the daughter and she came to meet us at the office. During investigations, we found out that the daughter gave a standing order to the bank that N800m should be moved into another account. We wondered why such a young girl would have access to such funds so we started quizzing her.

“This is a whole new dimension to the case and we will continue to investigate to find out if it is related to the arms probe or not.”

Obanikoro and his sons, who are citizens of the United States, have remained in the US for over a year.

However, the EFCC swiftly seized the US passport of Shalewa to prevent her from towing the path of her father and brothers.

The investigator said, “We were told that she was planning on travelling to the US soon so we swiftly seized her passport because she is vital to our investigation. However, we told her to be coming from home.”

Apart from the N4.7bn arms scam rocking the Obanikoro family, it will be recalled that MOB Integrated Services Ltd, a company headed by Obanikoro’s second son, Gbolahan, was implicated by the Aigboje Imokhuede-led Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation in 2012.

The company was said to have made three transactions valued at N5, 393, 592,906.62. However, investigations revealed that the company only made one transaction valued at N3, 261,263,992.52 verified as legitimate.

The difference of over N2bn was said to have been embezzled as MOB did not make the needed oil supply.

However, sources at the commission said that after Obanikoro was appointed the Minister of State for Defence, the case was mysteriously suspended indefinitely.

The latest revelation may be the missing piece of the puzzle, detectives believe.

However, the former minister said in a statement that his wife had high blood pressure and other heart-related ailments and asked security agents not to drag her into the arms probe as she knew nothing about the case.

He said, “We are using this medium to call on the officials of the EFCC to desist from persecuting an innocent woman who has no dealings at all with any of the businesses that they are investigating and totally unaware of the alleged transactions.

“For emphasis, the innocent woman has a history of high blood pressure and heart-related ailments and as such should not be dragged into their biased and politicized investigations.”

Obanikoro also denied media reports that his wife was arrested with incriminating evidence.