Hundreds of pensioners under the aegis of Concerned Pensioners of Kwara state on Wednesday morning stormed the streets of Ilorin to protest the non-payment of their outstanding pension arrears running into N1.68B since 2008 during the administration of Senator Bukola Saraki as governor of the state.
The aggrieved pensioners who left their state secretariat, at Commissioners way, GRA, Ilorin early in the morning were armed with placards carrying various inscriptions such as, ’’We have lost over 300 pensioners in kwara state since 2008’’, ’’We are the real Arugbos, pay us our dues Bukola Saraki’’, ’’Treat pensioners with dignity’’, among others later went through the busy Challenge area of Ilorin to government house along Ahmadu Bello way, where they urged Governor Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman to help retrieve their money from Dr Bukola Saraki.
According to the spokesman of the aggrieved pensioners, Comrade Abayomi Ajibola, ’’We sincerely appeal to our highly esteemed Governor Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman to bail out the real and original,’’ Arugbos’’ in this our pitiable predicament by retrieving the ‘’Owo Arugbo’’ in the hands of Senator Bukola Saraki which he has held to since 2008 and pay us so that we can go to our graves in peace knowing fully well that these set of ‘’Arugbos’’ have laboured so hard to develop Kwara state created in 1967 when the likes of Bukola Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed were still infants but had now plundered our dear state’’
He also said that,’’If Bukola Saraki can claim to have built,’’Ile Arugbo’’ for people who have contributed nothing to the development of the state,why then would he withhold ‘’Owo Arugbos’’ money meant for people who have used the better parts of their lives to immensely develop the state’’
Ajibola in his address recalled that’’ Kwara state government under the leadership of Dr Bukola Saraki agreed in 2008 to pay our outstanding pension arrears and gratuities [Owo Arugbo]. The deserving recipients are made up of 9030 accredited pensioners.”
He added that the government announced that it Would require N3.3B to defray the entire sum and approached some banks for a loan of N3.3B which was indeed approved and collected, only to turn their back at us by paying N1.68B representing 50% of the total sum and claimed that the remaining 50% will be used to develop infrastructure in the state’’
Ajibola also said that petitions were written on the matter to Economic and Financial Crime Commission[EFCC] while they also went to court, saying ’’We have been to the state high court, Appeal court, and the Supreme court, and now at the National Industrial Court in their bid to retrieve their money.
Contacted on phone, for reaction, Mallam Yusuf Olaniyonu Special Assistant to former Senate president Dr Bukola Saraki was not willing to react to the development.
‘’Please go and meet them in the government house’ He said. (Vanguard)
