Information reliably gathered has it that workers of Mirrage Hotel Calabar owned by current Minister of Culture and Tourism, High Chief Edem Duke embarks on indefinite strike due to none payment of close to a year salary.
Birthed on the eve of Nigerian 99, FIFA U20 World Cup, Mirrage hotel has been harbinger of modern day hospitable hotels in Calabar but torn in the flesh to its teeming workers. It was gathered that the five star hotel has been suffering series of monumental seizures in her 15yrs of existence. Despite high patronage that the hotel enjoys, the management has refused to pay the workers for several months and this has resulted in peaceful demonstration by staffs to express their grievances to both its management and the owner, High Chief Edem Duke.
Findings revealed that the demonstration is not first of its kind as several has been organized but always fell on the deaf ears of the serving Minister in the Executive Council of President Goodluck Jonathan.
In another development, the Minister, High Chief Edem Duke, who is the Minister in Charge of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality has been found to be hiding his family illegally in the United Kingdom for the past two years without rectifying the illegality.
Reliable sources revealed that he moved his family, consisting of his wife, Helen, and three kids to Britain in 2010 under the pretence of seeking medical attention for his last child who was bedevilled by a strange disease
Investigation revealed that the United Kingdom Border Control issued a six-month medical visa for Helen Duke in 2010 for the duration and convalescent period of the child.
After the expiration of the six months, Mrs. Duke renewed her visa with fictitious medical documents from Nigeria which called the attention of the UK Border Control and Immigration to the fact that the child needed to frequent London Hospital for regular check up and also needed to frequent India.
The two years visa and permission to visit the UK without engaging in any job was granted to Mrs Duke who immediately rented an apartment on Oakridge, brought the other two children under the pretence of visiting and fixed herself up in the illegal jobs.
Since the expiration of the two-year visa, Mrs Helen Edem has been staying and working illegally in the UK with his husband paying regular visit as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not minding the fact that his wife’s circumstance could mar the image of Nigeria and the President of the country.
A family source revealed that High Chief Edem Duke was said to have tried to use his position as the a Minister of the Federal Government in ensuring the legalisation of Helen Duke to achieve permanent stay in the UK but his efforts were thwarted because of the case file at the Immigration and UK Border Control, which indicated that “one Helen Duke was once intercepted, interrogated and delayed for hours at Heathrow for suspicious shuttling between Nigeria and the UK.”
Mrs Duke who was let off by the UK border control after a harrowing grilling has holed up in the UK without valid papers and has been conducting her business as if she had all the permission to stay as free citizen.
Efforts to reach the minister for his reactions proved abortive as all his mobile lines were not reachable.