Unpaid entitlements: Taraba retirees begin 7 days prayers against gov. Ishaku
After fruitless efforts to get the attention of the state governor to attend to their plights, retirees in Taraba state on Thursday commenced seven days fasting and prayers as a last resort.
Mr Silas Jephthah, Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Taraba state said since the governor has shown the height of insensitivity to the plight of the people, they have decided to turn to God to ensure he does not occupy any leadership position again, beginning with losing his senatorial ambition.
Jephthah said they were appealing to God to stop the governor from continuing his poor leadership style in the Senate after his wasted eight years as governor.
He said governor Darius Ishaku has subjected retirees in the state to such inhuman treatment with a lot of retirees dying years after retirement with even benefiting a Kobo from their pension and gratuity.
He regretted years after retirement, people are not even enrolled into the pension scheme and those who are enrolled are owed for months on end while gratuity is now considered such a luxury beyond the retirees.
“We have resolved to embark on a 7 day fasting and prayers to appeal to God to ensure that governor Darius Ishaku losses his Senatorial bid. Our decision is due to the inhuman situation the governor has subjected us to.
“For ten years now, we have not been paid our entitlements as retirees of the Taraba state government, some of our members have died because of the situation. We have written severally to the governor through the secretary to the state government (SSG), and the speaker of the state house of assembly but the governor seems not to be concerned at all.
“We have held peaceful demonstrations demanding our legitimate entitlements, all to no avail. We were to go out for another protest yesterday Wednesday 18/1/2023, but the security refused to approve our request to carry out the demonstration on the directives of the governor.
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“The directives of the governor for the security to stop us from staging the protest yesterday has proven to us that he, governor Ishaku does not mean well for us. It has clearly shown that governor Darius Ishaku is not a good leader, judging from how poorly he has performed as governor of Taraba and the hardship he has subjected us to. Allowing him to proceed to the Senate after his disastrous eight years of reign would be a disaster for Taraba state. Beside voting against him, we must also turn to God who is the source of all powers.
“This is definitely not politically motivated. As a matter of fact, this is a union with membership that cut across all political parties, religions, tribes and all sections of the society. We are aware that we are not the only victims of this horrible administration. Only last week, we saw the demonstration from the students. The Taraba State Male and Female football teams are all dead, no thanks to his administration. Parliamentary workers are victims and have demonstrated a number of times without result.
“In all ramifications, this governor has shown that the interest of the people is not his priority. Look at the massive decay in infrastructure. Even his pet project, the Taraba Greenhouse could not even survive his eight years. We can not sit back and allow the governor to take up another leadership position in the state. That would be disastrous and that is why we have decided to turn to God with fasting and prayers” Jephthah said.
Our correspondent recall that students of the state owned University last week staged a protest against non payment of staff of the University that led to interruption of their examinations, leading to serious security situation in Jalingo the state capital. Another alleged planned protest by Civil Society Organizations in the state was also called off at the weekend following orders by the state governor for security agencies to crush any such move.
