Osun pensioners and Aregbesola

The petition sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against former Governor Rauf Aregbesola by some Osun pensioners is unacceptable. Within a reasonable period of time, the Osun 2011/2012 pensioners got it wrong on the petition they wrote. They opted out of contributory pension scheme when Aregbesola enrolled them. This is a sponsored attack and blackmail on the former governor and government of Osun.

The 2011/2012 pensioners group is made up of a fraction of those who retired from service in 2012 to avoid being part of the Contributory Pension Scheme. They are the pensioners being used for protests by political blackmailers in Osun State. It is not the entire pensioners of the state that are involved.

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I have been demoralised by the orchestrated pensioners media attacks, fabrications and perpetual lies, unguarded utterances and malicious statements made by the group that the Aregbesola administration paid each political office holder who served between November 2010 and November 2014 the sum of N50 million each as severance allowance; that the government refused to pay their gratuities but instead spent the meagre resources of the state on frivolities. These allegations are baseless and unfounded.

We should, therefore, not encourage the opposition’s tradition of using these pensioners to protest in Osun State. They are the only group of pensioners that introduced internally displaced persons camp in Nigeria. The language of the protesting 2011/2012 pensioners is not only disgusting but inciting. They have abandoned democracy, a negative political culture that is based on insulting political leaders.

I am greatly disturbed that this group of pensioners have turned themselves into a dirty weapon of destruction in the hands of the opposition party in the state and have now resorted to cheap blackmail against the government which has continually displayed high level of responsibility towards the welfare of the entire citizenry, civil servants and pensioners, in spite of the paucity of funds which has affected the whole country.

It is disturbing and unfortunate that the acclaimed 2011/2012 retires have chosen to blackmail the Osun State government and persistently constituting nuisance on the streets of Osogbo to the detriment of the peace-loving citizens through sponsored protests on the payment of gratuity and not pension. I want to describe the protest by these pensioners as politically motivated. These senior citizens have been hoodwinked by the antics of those who want to play on their minds and emotion to make them appear like tools in the hands of desperate political gladiators. These pensioners have introduced politics into the bailout funds disbursed to the states and local governments that were transferred in about four tranches to some states and local governments which were stressed by the inability to meet up with the payment of salaries.

Inwalomhe Donald, inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com