By Amos Aar
PENSIONERS in Benue State on Thursday protested on the streets of Makurdi over the non-payment of pension and gratuity and requested the Department of State Services (DSS) not to clear the State Governor, Dr Samuel Ortom, to contest the 2023 senatorial election.
Chairman of Concerned/Aggrieved Pensioners, Mr Alex Akosu, told National Record’s Benue correspondent on phone after the protest that: “We started our protest today from Arabic Primary School and we visited EFCC, DSS and ICPC. We submitted a statement in all those places and in that statement, we requested DSS not to clear Governor Samuel Ortom to contest election because he is too inefficient.
“Pensioners are dying every day due to their inability to afford drugs. Journalists should help publicise our plight to the outside world so that our cry will be heard one day.
“Most pensioners are on drugs but they cannot afford maintenance ration and they are dying which is very bad. Last week, a pensioner died because he could not afford five hundred naira (N500) worth of drugs to control his sugar level.
“Our children are not going to school because we have not been paid for 35 months at the state level while it is 74 months at the local government level.
National Record gathered that Benue pensioners have divided themselves into two groups based on political interest.
When asked what brought about the divide, Mr Akosu explained that the Concerned/Aggrieved Pensioners are the ones demanding for their payment while the other group headed by Mr Michael Vembe has allegedly pitched tent with the government and are getting their benefits.
“The other group is romancing with the government to get their food. When we wanted to protest the other time, the other group of pensioners foretold the governor about it. They said that we were being sponsored by politicians to destabilise the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to win an election that was to be conducted that time. They called us an illegal association
“Consequently, we wrote to the Commissioner of Police and requested for the arrest and prosecution of Mr Michael Vembe for spreading false information that caused, confusion, disharmony and disunity between the ruling party the and opposition party. He was the one who wrote that petition against us and the governor acted on it. He copied me and the Commissioner of police in the petition,” Akosu said.
Although Mr Michael Vembe could not be reached to explain why he was alleged to have tagged the Concerned/Aggrieved Pensioners as an illegal group, a pensioner who pleaded anonymity clarified that they were all concerned pensioners before Mr Vembe allegedly went contrary to what they wanted to achieve.
“There is no problem and there is no difference amongst us. Michael Vembe was voted as Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Benue State chapter but his activities were at variance with what we wanted. The whole of Benue pensioners were the concerned but when the issue of Ikyume came up (leadership issue), a fresh election was conducted and Vembe emerged as our leader. But when he started going contrarily, we became aggrieved and picked Michael Akosu as Chairman hence the name “Concerned/Aggrieved pensioners.”
“It doesn’t mean that other pensioners are different, we are all one, the name is just there for nothing,” he said.
