TENSION!!! I will Drag Ikpeazu to Court – Orji Uzor Kalu
Former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has distanced himself from the report on how 108 former governors are living off their states through pensions and other entitlements from the coffers of state governments.
Kalu stressed that since he left office in 2007, he has not received any entitlements or privileges of any sort from his successors.
Responding to questions from newsmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Kalu disclosed that as a non-serving government official, the Abia State government has withheld and refused to pay his pensions and entitlements, making him the only ex-governor in the 36 states that does not receive pension.
Kalu, who served as Abia State governor between 1999 and 2007, told journalists that the report in a national daily are heartbreaking considering that many ordinary pensioners were being owed by some of the people currently receiving the pensions.
He noted that as a governor, it was one of his most important obligations to see that all the pensioners in his state were being paid appropriately and timely, adding that he left the state with no pensioner being owed.
He also disclosed that while leaving the government house on May 29, 2007, he left behind all the government vehicles and other properties that belonged to the government.
Kalu explained with no regrets that none of the privileges that accrue to former governors have been extended to him, not even the security attachee or vehicles.
He expressed disenchantment over noncompliance of the laws of the land by some leaders, adding that this does not speak well of a leader. When asked if he is broke because of the nonpayment and his next line of action, he said: “It is not about being broke or not.
The pension laws of the state did not exclude me from being paid as expected. In fact, it is illegal according to the law to deny one his rights and privileges. “Since 2009, I have not received any pension nor entitlement from the state government, but I took it in good faith.
I have earlier written to my two successors in different periods notifying them of how they were flouting the laws by withholding my pensions, but it was ignored.
“If it is out of will to disregard the law, I shall instruct my lawyers to take a legal action against the governor for denying me my rights.
If the present governor cannot resolve it, I will seek redress in the court. It doesn’t matter what I will be doing with the money. I can channel it into humanitarian service and philanthropy, but the laws must be obeyed.”
