What goes around inevitably comes around, likewise we reap the effect of what we sow. This is the basic understanding of how I think karma, the law of cause and effect, works. It could be good, bad, individual or collective.
Depending on one’s actions, one will reap the fruits of those actions. Today, the Governor of Kogi State is at the crossroads of Karma.
First, workers in Kogi state who altered their date of birth were punished by Gov Bello for alleged infraction.
Second, workers who acquired additional certificates without approval were reverted to their substantive grade level before the acquisition of such certificates.
Third, workers who went for NYSC without approval were punished for using government working hours for personal gain.
Fourth, so many workers are being owed up to 15 months salary arrears because of what the government and governor called workers’ screening. Some people were denied salary for this period just because they could not present original copies of their certificates and some were academic staff of tertiary institutions denied salaries because they decided to go abroad and further their studies.
When we begged and pleaded that no human is infallible that the workers should be forgiven, the governor’s aides reacted in a pugnacious manner and were quick in pointing out to us the various sections of the Civil Service Rules that dealt on workers infractions. We were told that ignorance of the law was never an excuse.
But when Bello invited INEC staff to government house, the aides of the governor were oblivious of section 117(i) of the 2010 Electoral Act that prescribed for offenders a fine of not exceeding #100,000.00 or a 12 months jail term or both.
When the governor decided to do another registration for another PVC, the aides were also oblivious of Section 117(c) of the 2010 Electoral Act that proscribed for offenders a fine of #1,000,000.00 or a 12 months jail term or both.
If the workers, who mostly are ignorant and barely educated, could be punished by Bello for infractions, shouldn’t Bello, with all the paraphernalia of well educated aides, who made infractions on the Electoral Act be made to face the full weight of the law?
The beauty of karma is that it’s either rewarding or devastating in other to strike the balance required by nature to attain equilibrium. What goes around certainly comes around.
– Hon. Obochi Samuel
