The controversy trailing a purported Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, between Abia State Government and the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, forfeiting their pension arrears by past administrations has taken a messier dimension.
While the government is insisting it signed an MOU and has described the NUP leaders as dishonest, the NUP leaders who dismissed claims of an MOU as a product of ambush, described government comments as very unfortunate.
The bone of contention is the over 38 months accumulated pension arrears from past administrations.
In fact, the NUP state Chairman, Chukwuemeka Irondi, in an ongoing war of attrition with the government, has continued to accuse the Alex Otti-led government of imposing an agreement on the pensioners during a late night meeting at his country home,Umuehim Nvosi i n Isiala Ngwa South Council Area.
The NUP chairman, Irondi, said the pensioners were invited to a meeting at 11am at the Governor’s residence and kept waiting till 8pm when a former Commissioner for Finance brought a document for them to sign under duress.
Irondi has been crying foul, claiming he could not have failed to sign the document at the Governor’s residence by 8pm, because he was not sure of what would have befallen him and members of the NUP leadership if he had declined to append his signature to the document.
He also alleged that a female Special Adviser to the Governor had earlier requested the NUP letter head paper which the NUP secretary, Uma Kalu , willingly released to her, without any suspicion .
Corroborating the chairman’s account, the NUP secretary, Elder Uma said the NUP executive committee met the next day and saw what he described as ‘ a rot’ and alerted the Commissioner and Special Adviser over the document.
The exchange between Otti and the NUP leadership appear to have gained a political twist as the Governor accused the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, of sponsoring the NUP leadership, stressing that the NUP’ lawyer is a member of the PDP.
Irondi, who admitted that the Otti administration has been update in paying monthly pensions, lamented that they could not have signed an agreement to forfeit their legitimate arrears of pensions under normal circumstances.
NUP leaders dishonest —Otti
Reacting to NUP’s leadership position, Governor Otti had while briefing newsmen in Umuahia, described the leaders of the pensioners as dishonest people and vowed not to call them to any negotiation.
He said: “Did you see that they signed the Memorandum of Agreement.? I saw a newspaper report where they said they did not sign. So, you can see that we are dealing with dishonest set of leaders. The pensioners are honest people, their leaders are dishonest. We don’t reward dishonesty.
“If you made a mistake, don’t say I didn’t sign, don’t say I was deceived to sign. You went to school. Somebody was owing them. I never owed them. They kept quiet all the while, some for 10 years. And somebody comes out to say, I want to clear this backlog and they were excited. I have told this story several times.
“Once you start from a dishonest point of view, I cannot deal with you. If you like, twist the question 100 times, I will not deal with you. I will not deal with them because they are very dishonest people. The pensioners are happy because they were paid.
“These people signed, they had walked away from everything. But I said no, it is not fair, out of my own magnanimity. But im not going to be discouraged because a few people are dishonest.
“I have investigated it and found that PDP is behind it, their lawyer is a PDP lawyer. If they are not stupid, why would they hire somebody who owed them for 10 years to come and be disparaging somebody who offered to pay? Genuine pensioners are happy everywhere but contractors who feel they can make money are not. I will not pay, I will not deal with them. I have finished with them. Since they have an option, why can’t they go to court? The question to ask them is; why did they not go to court in the last 10 years?
“We have sufficiently dealt with the matter. I will not deal with it again. If somebody is not happy that he is being paid 100 per cent pensions monthly, he should return the ones that he has been paid and continue wearing black.
“Let’s move on. Two days ago, I read a report in Vanguard Newspaper where they said they never signed anything. I said yes, we are getting there. Before now, they said they were deceived. Genuine pensioners have disowned them. They want me to call them to a negotiation but I will never call them. They should return all they have collected and declare a dispute. Then, we deal with the dispute. You don’t collect money and turn back to say you don’t agree. It is dishonesty and I don’t deal with dishonest people.”
Gov’s comments unfortunate — NUP
Responding to Governor Otti’s description of them as dishonest, Irondi said the Governor’s comment was unfortunate.
Irondi, who spoke at a local radio station in Umuahia, stated that the NUP leadership is not dishonest, but composed of good and seasoned men.
He said: ”Im bleeding in my heart. I am not happy with what he said. We are not dishonest people, we are good people. We are not stupid, we are seasoned old men.
“Yes, we signed that which was pressed on us to sign by government officials. It is only a foolish man that will refuse to sign where he is asked to sign with a man holding a gun behind him at that hour of the night.
He alleged that the agreement was imposed on them at the Governor’s residence by a former Commissioner for Finance in the state.
Irondi, who disclosed this at a briefing convened by Abians for Good Governance, in Umuahia, alleged that a former Commissioner for Finance gave them a document to sign without any chance to read through.
He said: “Our situation is pathetic. We didn’t go to bargain with anybody. I was only invited to come to the Governor’s residence and hear what he had to say about the problem of pensioners in the state. That was on March 23, 2024. I was not invited to negotiate with anybody. Before that time, we had gone to the Governor several times and we discussed extensively with him. We even thanked him for his concerns over our welfare.
“In that meeting, an already prepared agreement was imposed on us to sign. It was imposed on us because we did not come for any negotiation. We arrived there by 11am and were still there by some minutes after 8pm . Nobody talked to us. I accosted the former Commissioner of Finance on why the Governor had kept us waiting without anyone attending to us? Why were we invited? The ex-Commissioner said it was in the interest of the state.
“But recently, the Governor said we were given a document to go and study for over four days. He also said that we went through the document and signed it but later went back on the agreement. What a statement! After the so -called signing of the forfeiture of the project, the next morning when we returned from the Governor’s residence, we read through and discovered the rot they put in the paper. We also called the former Commissioner for Finance to demand why he brought such document for us to sign. But what he told us is not worthy to be said here.
“The document was given to us at 8pm. There was no room to read it and they asked us to sign with the former Commissioner for Finance playing a bad role. The former Commissioner came with the document, placed it before me and held it himself for me to sign. I’m over 70 years, I flashed back on why they kept us from 11am to 8pm and gave us a document to sign by that hour.
“I realised that I may be in danger if I declined to sign the document at that ungodly hour. Just imagine the former Commissioner for Finance showing me a document and personally holding it for me to append my signature without giving me the chance to read through. I wouldn’t have refused to sign it because it is only a mad man who will argue with a man holding a gun. Before the former Commissioner did what he did, a lady official had asked for the NUP’s letter headed paper which was given to her without us suspecting that she was up to some game. With our letter headed paper, they wrote that we have forfeited the arrears of pensions owed pensioners.
How can they say we agreed to forfeit our pensions? It is not the truth.
“We only came to the Governor’s residence to hear what he had to tell us, not knowing that they had gone to cook up what was unacceptable to anybody. How could they have cooked up such nasty document which is una
