A 65-year-old retired teacher who served in the Bauchi State Civil Service, Alhamdu Dan’azumi, has threatened to kill himself if his gratuity and pension are not paid on or before Friday, 8th March 2019.
The frustrated retiree while speaking with newsmen at the NUJ Secretariat, said that he took the decision out of frustration because he is unable to pay the huge debts hanging on his neck which has accumulated to over N800, 000 saying that he was a Primary School teacher who retired from active service with the Ningi Local Government Authority in 2016 and started collecting pension in 2018.
The father of 6 children said: “I came here to share my problems so that the Governor will hear. Honestly, I am greatly indebted to many people because I have been HIV positive for over 20 years now. I have suffered due to sicknesses I had over this period because of that I kept on collecting debts to take care of my health and I have not been able to pay. One of my daughters had an accident and I had to sell part of my house to settle her bills. But my greatest problem is over N800, 000.
“The truth is that I am in deep trouble because for a long time now, I cannot live a normal life, I cannot walk around freely in Ningi and that is why for the past 31 days I ran away from there. I promised them that by Friday, 8th March, I will pay them their money. I have vowed that if by that day (Friday, 8th March 2019), I am not paid my entitlements, I will hang myself or drink poison.”
He appealed to the Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar to ensure that his gratuity and his nine months outstanding pension were paid so that he can live a normal life saying that his gratuity is over N1.6 million while his accumulated pension is over N200, 000.
He said: “I have worked for 35 years and retired and I am entitled to my pension and gratuity because I am suffering. I cannot even sit with my family because I can hardly cater for their needs, so I need my entitlements between now and Friday to pay all my debts, otherwise, let it be on record that I will kill myself.”
The retired Civil Servant said he is married to three wives and 6 children pointing out that he and one of his wives and two children are all HIV positive.
Earlier on, it took the prompt intervention of the few Journalists and others around to save the life of Alhamdu Dan’Azumi who on Monday reportedly walked into the premises of the NUJ Press Center and attempted to commit suicide for what he said was the refusal of the state government to settle his gratuity years after retirement from active service.
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Alhamdu Dan’Azumi would have achieved his suicide mission but for the quick intervention of the Assistant Secretary of the NUJ State Council, Alhaji Kabiru Garba, who arrived the scene few minutes to the act and raised alarm before others joined him in the rescue effort.
While speaking with newsmen in his office, Kabiru Garba, narrated that he was at the Press Center at about 8 am to make ready one of the NUJ halls for a Workshop which was to take place today (Monday) when he met the man lurking around the premises of the Press Center looking for an appropriate place to carry out his suicide mission.
The NUJ Assistant Secretary narrated that, “I arrived the NUJ Press Center this morning, Monday, 4th March 2019 at about 8 am and I met one man who approached me and introduced himself to me as Alhamdu. He said he came here at about 7 am. I saw him half naked with a rope in his hands, in fact, he had tied it to the Mango tree within the NUJ Press Center premises and was sitting on a chair”.
“So I asked him what he was doing here at that time of the day with a rope in his hands. He told me he arrived at the NUJ Press Center premises and wanted to kill himself with the rope. I asked him why he wanted to do that, and why he wanted to do that in the NUJ Secretariat”, Kabir Garba added.
He stated further that, “He told me that he came from Ningi about 31 days ago to pursue his gratuity and when he arrived Bauchi, he proceeded to Potiskum in Yobe State with a plan to go to Sambisa so he would have Boko Haram kill him. But when he got there, he changed his mind and came back to Bauchi.”
Kabir Garba further said that he asked him why he wanted to kill himself and he told him he is HIV positive and has a lot of debts that he needed to pay but could not due to the non-payment of his entitlements by the government.
“He told me he is a retired teacher in Ningi LGA who had spent 35 years in service and had retired but his gratuity was not paid. He also told me he, his wife and two children are all HIV positive and has a lot of bills to pay. He said that he wanted to give two of his daughters out in marriage but could not get the money to do so. He took a loan from different people amounting to over N800, 000 to do a lot of things but the people are pursuing him to pay them their money,” the NUJ Assistant Secretary narrated further.
Kabir Garba, who is also a Senior Special Assistant to the NUJ National President, Chris Isiguzo for the North-East, further told newsmen that the said Alhamdu told him that he wanted to hold a Press Conference and afterwards kill himself in the presence of the newsmen so that it will be reported.
Alhamdu according to Kabir Garba said that his gratuity computed is about N1.6 million which he is in dire need of in order to be able to offset the huge debts hanging on his head.
“He told me that if the state government did not pay him his entitlements between today (Monday) and Friday this week, he will have no option but to kill himself. So I decided to carry him in my car to the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) where the Chairman addressed him and pleaded with him not to kill himself,” he stated.
According to Kabir Garba, the gratuity is not even with the state government but with the local government and he was then referred to the appropriate place to lay his complaint adding that, “It is unfortunate because he had removed his shirt and was left with only his trousers on and was about to end his life. I saw him looking very disturbed.”
At the state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), the leadership of the union promised to take up the case and ensure that everything possible was done to save the life of Alhamdu Dan’Azumi and all other Retirees who are going through similar problems.
An official of the Union who pleaded anonymity lamented that retirees in the state are going through hard times as government is not paying attention to their plights pointing out however that the Union is doing its best to fight the cause of the retirees who he said have served meritoriously and needed to enjoy the fruits of their hard labour.
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