Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state, Tuesday, said the death of some pensioners in the state, while waiting for their pension was not of his own making. Rochas Okorocha Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, stated this in Owerri, through a release issued to newsmen.
Also, the governor claimed that he discovered Six hundred and fifty million naira, pension cheque fraud and that thirty persons had been arrested in connection with the fraud. The release stated: “About thirty (30) Pension Board Staff have been handed over to the Personnel of Directorate of Security Services (DSS) over monumental fraud dictated in Pension Cheques amounting to N650 million naira. The Cheques in question are 92 with some of them containing N10 million and above.” It went further to say: “It was discovered that one person could have three or four Cheques written in his or her name and most of the names non-Pensioners and the amounts in the Cheques all in millions. “Prompting the governor to summon a meeting after a preliminary investigation with the key Pension Board Staff in attendance, and Pensioners from the 8 designated Local Governments for payment.” Okorocha was not happy that “Before handing over the suspected Pension Board Staff to security agents, the blood of Pensioners who had died without their Pensions would be on their heads.” Adding that, “Some of the Senior Pension Board Staff involved have hotels in Owerri, Aba and Delta State, while two of them have housing estates, and said they would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
