Julius Berger Staff, Gift Elenwo declared wanted by Gov. Wike gives shocking account of his ordeal (Video)

A staff of construction giant Julius Berger and one of the leaders of a recent protest in Rivers State, Gift Elenwo, says he is not a criminal and allegations leveled against him are false. Elenwo, made the clarification during a joint media briefing with human rights lawyer, O.C Higher King, and the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in the State.

Elenwo debunked allegations levelled against him by the Rivers State Government that he is a criminal. Recall that on Friday, September 10, 2021, the Rivers State Government, in a statement issued by Kelvin Ebiri, Special Assistant to Governor Nyesom Wike on Media, had declared three persons wanted for allegedly harassing contractors handling government projects in the state.

Ebiri had listed the names of the three wanted persons as Gift Elenwo, Chiboso Glory Ejeku and Tambari Godwin Gbara, and had also directed the Council Chairmen of Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas to immediately apprehend and hand them over to the police when found.

But in a twist, Elenwo gave a rather pathetic story of his ordeal as a staff of the multi billion naira construction giant. Excerpts of his speech:

My name is Gift Elenwo and I am here on account of the Julius Berger Company declaring me wanted on air. Out of 18,000 workers, no one is aware of the condition of service because they hid it from us and the condition of service would have made us know our requirements and rights as workers.

We finally found the condition of service and discovered that the basic salary as stated there is N722.73 daily and I don’t think such an amount counts in any nation currently. Especially for somebody working Sunday to Sunday without breaks/holidays. We had a peaceful protest on the 7th of September and the Commissioner of Police was sent by the Governor to bring us (some delegates) in and ask our problems.

We visited the government house but due to the Governor’s busy schedule we were asked to return by 12pm with our problems and details on black and white paper to be signed and looked into. On the morning of the 8th of September, while we were preparing the black and white paper, the management, the security chief from the company and some police men came to the site and started shooting everywhere causing workers to run.

I got out of there and later got a call that the management was arresting workers of the company, men who protested for their rights. And one of these rights is that the company does not observe COVID-19 protocols. For instance, a vehicle to convey 10 persons would be used to carry up to 50 persons leaving some workers to hang even under rain, while returning from the site.Up till now, some people arrested are still in detention even though it was a peaceful protest.

I was even at the office of the Commissioner of Police with the C4i commander when he signed the worker’s document for us and took their own part of the document. One of the reasons for the protest is that the 18,000 workers do not have a union. Secondly, we want the transport provided for other states to be monetized because we no longer want to be jam-packed. We wish to find our way to the site and back.