A coalition of civil society organisations under the umbrella of Zamfara Patriotic Citizens has strongly criticised Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal for allegedly failing to honour the tripartite agreement on the implementation of the minimum wage.

The group has described his actions as a betrayal of the oath of office and the constitution he swore to uphold.

In a statement issued on Thursday by its chairman, Arc Aliyu Umar Gusau, the group accused Governor Lawal of disregarding the consensus reached by the tripartite committee, which had set the minimum salary for Grade Level 1/1 at 86,600 naira after deductions, with the highest salary for Grade Level 16/1 fixed at 312,560 naira.

However, according to the group, civil servants were instead paid significantly lower amounts, with some senior officers receiving as little as 115,000 naira.

The organisation called on organised labour unions to shut down the state until the issue is addressed, stressing that the governor’s actions undermine the welfare of Zamfara’s workforce.

It also noted that previous administrations, including that of former Governor Bello Matawalle, had implemented salary adjustments transparently, ensuring that workers benefited from proper salary tables and circulars.

“This is not the first time salaries have been increased in the state, and there are established salary structures that should guide such payments,” the statement read.

“However, Governor Lawal has chosen to ignore these guidelines, leading to discrepancies in payments. Some civil servants in Grade Level 07 received 71,500 naira, while those in Grade Level 13/4 were paid only 78,650 naira—far below the agreed rates.”

The group further alleged that the governor had deliberately deceived labour leaders and senior officials by allowing discussions on salary adjustments only to later approve what it called a “mischievous consequential adjustment.”

Aliyu alleged that Dauda instructing a select group of officials to add only 3,000 to 5,000 naira to senior civil servants’ salaries, branding it a “clear manifestation of ingratitude and lack of administrative knowledge.”

The statement warned that salaries and wages are protected by constitutional provisions, and any violation could warrant legislative action.

It called on the Zamfara State House of Assembly to initiate impeachment proceedings against Governor Lawal for what it described as a “serious crime against the state.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has denied being partisan in handling the failed recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Rotimi Oyekanmi, who was on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, explained how the Commission handled the process.

“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi said on the programme.

“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.

“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did.”

Earlier on Thursday, INEC rejected the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, saying that it has not met the requirements.

The electoral commission said the petition to recall Senator Natasha did not meet constitutional requirements.

Senator Natasha was suspended for breaching Senate rules, prompting some of her constituents to initiate her recall. They claimed the move was to ensure their constituency did not lack representation following the suspension of the 45-year-old senator.

Asked whether there could be a repeat of the recall process, the INEC spokesperson said the law did not specify if the process could be repeated and how many times.

“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he said.

The lawmaker has made headlines in recent months after she accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment, a claim the Akwa Ibom lawmaker has equally denied.

She was thereafter suspended by the Red Chamber for violation of its rule of conduct.