Pensioners in the Taraba State have staged another mass protest after 30 days of consecutive protests, following the approval of a fresh 5.5bn loan for Governor Darius Ishaku by the State House of Assembly.
The pensioners who marched to the House of Assembly in Jalingo, the State capital questioned why Governor Ishaku has been insensitive to their plight after collecting a lot of loans from different institutions, a bailout from the Nigerian Government, and the Paris club refund.
Demanding for their entitlements on behalf of the retirees, the State Pensioners Chairman, Silas Jafta also demanded for accountability into all the debt collected by the Governor since 2015.
He said; “We are out again to protest for our right, we want Governor Ishaku to be sensitive and pay us our retirement benefits.
“The governor has collected a lot of loans including bailout and Paris club refund. He has no project to point at as what he has used the funds to do. He keep borrowing and Taraba state is gradually becoming the most indebted state in Nigeria but our entitlement are still not considered after retiring for over 10 years.
“While we demand that the 5.5bn loan that was approved last week Wednesday for ruler roads completion should be used to pay our entitlements, we also demand immediate investigation into all the monies collected by the governor since he has no project on ground to point at.’‘
Meanwhile, the Speaker Taraba State House of Assembly, Professor Joseph Kunini refused to attend to the protesting pensioners after waiting for over four hours at the assembly’s gate.
Reacting to the 5.5bn loan approved by the State Assembly, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party LP, Danlami Ikenya and the All Progressives Congress APC, Emmanuel Bwacha have condemned the decision.
They challenged the Governor to pay back the N5.5 billion in the next seven months of his administration and should not add more debt to the ones he had incurred for the state.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
