Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State on Wednesday said he would recall the recently sacked 3,000 workers if it was the general consensus of the people of the state.

He made this known in his office at the inauguration of a panel set up to review claims of wrongful termination of appointment by some civil servants.

" We as a government will not on any occasion sack any innocent person. It is ungodly and indeed a sin against God and man.

" But if anyone defrauded the system, has stolen and falsified his credentials and you say we should temper justice with mercy, you are inflicting great damage on the system which will soon destroy its whole fabric.

" But, I say once again, ours is a listening government.

" If this is the consensus of the good people of Oyo State that anyone who has stolen government money; anyone who falsified age; anyone who falsified certificates; anyone who is a ghost worker, we should leave them in the system, so be it.

" We will respect the wishes of our people but I must tell you, if we do this, this state will not move forward," Ajimobi said.

The governor said the decision to implement the audit report set up by the immediate past administration of Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala was carried out to ensure that the Oyo State public service regained its reputation as one of the best in the country.

"In our quest for efficient service delivery, we have devoted time to motivating the public service.

" We have restored regular training, both within and outside the country, for our civil servants.

" There is no gainsaying the fact that more of our public servants have gone for training abroad and within in the last one year than they had done in preceding years.

" We have ensured regular payment of salary, not later than 25th of every month, regardless of how late the federal allocation is received," he said.

The governor, who urged the panel to be fearless and carry out the exercise diligently and with all fairness and honesty, said " we do not want any innocent man to be punished."

Members of the panel, headed by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adebayo Ojo, included representatives of the NBA, NLC and NUT. NAN