Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State Northern Nigerian has condemned the sacking of a young Nigerian girl identified as Bolouere Opukiri who criticised the federal government recently on the social media.
The Governor wrote:
I condemn in its entirety, the dismissal of this young lady, Bolouere for criticizing President Buhari & his Vice, Prof. Osinbajo.
No Nigerian should lose their job on account of criticizing the government they elected.
I am appealing to @Mbuhari to urgently look into the matter.
Bolouere lost her job a week after criticising Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, on Twitter, Premiumtimes reports.
In the July 5, 2017 tweet, Bolouere Opukiri described then-Acting President Osinbajo as ‘a novice’ for traveling out of the country at a time Pres. Buhari was receiving medical treatment in London and tension was flaring between the executive and the legislature.
In another post five days later, Opukiri threw a shade at Mrs. Buhari for railing against some ‘hyenas’ and ‘jackals’ within her husband’s inner circle, suggesting that Ms. Buhari might not be as ‘classy’ as a former first lady, Patience Jonathan.
The two tweets and other similar rants against Buhari administration figures were subsequently chronicled by some petitioners and sent to the presidency. .
The presidential amnesty office, where Ms. Opukiri worked at the media unit, saw her abuse of ‘government official’ as a threat to national security and dismissed her as recommended by the public service rules.
Opukiri told PREMIUM TIMES her dismissal was a violation of her right to free expression as enumerated in the Constitution and vowed to challenge it in court.
Her dismissal letter said she made ‘false claims’ against a ‘government official’ in her July 5 tweet.
The claims were ‘prejudicial to state security” and also “inimical to the image of the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs.”
The office based its actions on public service rule (PSR) 030407, which defines ‘false claims against government officials’ as a serious misconduct for which an employee should be dismissed as ultimate penalty.
Opukiri’s employment letter had implored her to be ‘responsible’ in her conduct while on the job.
