By Abdallah el-Kurebe
Former governor of Zamfara state, Abdul’aziz Yari Abubakar, has alleged that the state governor, Bello Matawalle, has refused to pay his pension and monthly upkeep allowances. But his outcry has been trailed with outrage by Nigerians
In a letter with a caption: Grant of Pension and other allowances for former governor, former Deputy governor, former speaker and former Deputy Speaker of Zamfara state, dated October 17, 2019 and signed personally, Yari stated that his request was pursuant to an amended law.
According to the letter, the law provides that a former governor is entitled to a monthly upkeep allowance of ₦10 million and pension equivalent to the salary he was receiving while in office.
“I wish to humbly draw your attention to the provision of the law on the above subject matter, which was amended and assented to on the 23rd of March 2019.
“The law provides, among other entitlements of the former governor, a monthly upkeep allowance of ₦10 million and a pension equivalent to the salary he was receiving while in office,” the letter read in parts.
Yari further stated that he had only paid his monthly pension two times since he left office.
“Accordingly, you may wish to be informed that since the expiration of my tenure on the 29th of May, 2019, I was only paid the upkeep allowance twice i.e for the months of June and July, while my pension for the month of June, has not been paid.”
The former governor explained that, according to the law, the pension and upkeep allowances were not privileges that could not be paid.
“As the law provides, the pension and upkeep allowances are not in the category of privileges that can be truncated without any justifiable reason, hence, the need to request you to kindly direct the settlement of the total backlog of the pension and upkeep as provided by the law,” Yari stated.
However, when Newsdiaryonline sought the response of the state government, Senior Special Assistant to Zamfara state governor on Media and Publicity, Zailani Bappa, said he was yet to be detailed on it.
“I have not been briefed on the matter. But I will get back to you as soon as possible.”
Newsdiaryonline further reports that Yari’s letter which has been trending all day on social media has elicited shock and outrage nationwide.
