He immediately ordered the suspension of all 30 new staff until their employment was regularized.

” He asked the HR  Manager to issue the 30 fresh staff suspension letters.
“He also asked them to stop coming to the office until December last year when he promised to conduct fresh employment exams for them.

“He even placed the security on standing order not to allow any of the 30 sacked new staff into the Council s premises as whoever flouts the order will face severe consequence.” a source said.

But till the time of writing this report, no such revalidation exercise of the employment of the 30 fresh staff, was yet to be done, thus raising fears that they may have been sacked.

It was further learnt that Ukeyima flayed the manner the employment exercise was carried out which he said was in breach of due process.

He queried the hurried process adopted by his predecessor, alleging nepotism in the process.

He was said to have asked why the employment exercise was not done much earlier before he came and why it had to be delayed till the twilight of the tenure of his predecessor.

However, knowledgeable sources whispered to our reporter that immediately after President Tinubu won the Presidential election and was sworn in, Jime knew his days at the Shippers’ Council were over.

This was because of the role he allegedly played in the electoral bid of the then Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, in his effort to outbid Tinubu for the presidential ticket of the All Progressive Congress(APC).

He was said to be among the Chief Executive officers of government agencies under the Ministry of Transportation who provided a war chest for Ameachi to prosecute his political ambition.

When Amechi lost the APC ticket to Tinubu, he was said to have instructed his allies in these agencies, of which Jime was among, to support the Presidential ambition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“So when Tinubu won the Presidential election, Jime knew he was living on borrowed time as the ES of the council as it was a payback time.

Jime then reached out to SGF for a truce to save his job but all his entreaties fell on deaf ears.

So when all entreaties by Jime to Akume, the SGF, to resolve their political differences so that he could retain his job failed, only then did he know his time as the NSC boss was over.

“That was when he hurriedly employed these 30 staff, most of whom were his kinsman, in a last ditch effort, an exercise he should have done much earlier in his tenure in other not to raise any suspicion” a source declared.

It was therefore not a surprise to him when he (Jime) was eventually sacked and Ukeyima, a political ally of Akume, was appointed as a replacement.

The three political gladiators, Akume, Jime and Ukeyima, are from Benue State.

While Akume is from Wannune Tarka Council Area of Benue state, Jime is from Mbalagh Council ward of Makurdi LGA of Benue state and Ukeyima is from Mbagwaza Ushongo LGA of Benue state.

All of these LGAs are in the Senatorial Zone of the State.

Unfortunately, the 30 innocent staff were caught in an intricate political web of Benue politics which was brought to the Nigeria Shippers’ Council.

“It was a regrettable matter as those affected were merely used as canon folders and pawns in the political chessboard of Benue politics” an industry observer lamented.

” The most painful of the whole matter is that four out of the 30 staff caught in the political cross-fire of Benue politics were 2018- 2019 batch of the National Youths Service Corps(NYSC) who have since then been working with the council without any remuneration.

“They had worked for five years without a salary and the only compensation for their commitment and hard work has now been truncated by Ukeyima” another source agonised.

It was learnt that the sacked staff were yet to collect the mandatory 28 days allowance meant to fund their relocation as it’s the practice in the civil service before they were axed.
And all of the sacked freshly employed staff were graduates who were placed on the Level 8 cadre of the civil service structure.

“He is the only person who can speak on this issue or whoever he authorises to speak on his behalf” one of his aides pleaded.