Hell was let lose at the premises of Osun State House of Assembly on Wednesday as some angry pensioners in the state stormed the Assembly in protest and pounced on lawmakers, beating them black and blue.
The aggrieved pensioners staged a fresh protest over the non-payment of their pension and gratuities by the state government before marching to the Assembly Complex at Abeere to vent their anger on the move by the legislators to prevent the Senate from probing the spending of the bailout funds received by Governor Aregbesola.
It was gathered that some legislators had attempted to pacify the seemingly angry protesters before they became violent and attacked the members of the parliament.
Before the pensioners arrived the Assembly ground, the lawmakers were said to be probing the state N34.5 billion bailout fund received by the administration of Governor Aregbesola but the pensioners protest stalled their sitting.
Our correspondent gathered that the pensioners had stormed the House of Assembly very early on Wednesday and prevented
those summoned by the House from gaining access into the premises.
The protesters described the probe as “kangaroo arrangement” designed to prevent the Senate from carrying out a genuine probe on the bailout fund released to Osun by the Federal Government.
The House had summoned those concerned with the finances of the state, including the Accountant-General, Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Finance, Office of Budget Planning and Director-General of Debt Management Office to appear before it with documents relating to the bailout fund.
Others summoned by the House were Osun State Chairmen of Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Joint Negotiation Council and the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee and officials of Wema Bank, Zenith Bank and First Bank.
But the probe was stalled as the pensioners sighted the legislators in the premises of the House of Assembly, beating and raining curses on them.
The pensioners harassed the Deputy Speaker, Hon Akintunde Adegboye, who attempted to address them.
The lawmaker representing Atakumosa East and West Constituency, Hon Babatunde Kolawole, and his personal assistant, were beaten seriously before policemen and officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil
Defence Corps rescued them from the pensioners.
The leader of the pensioners, Comrade Yemi Lawal, explained that the purported probe by Osun State House of Assembly was immaterial at a time that the Senate wanted to probe Aregbesola on the bailout fund.
He noted that the pensioners were aware of the plan of the state legislators to stage-manage their own probe and use it to thwart the
move by the Senate to probe Aregbesola.
The state Assembly had warned the Senate against probing how the bailout fund received by Aregbesola was spent, saying that the upper chamber would be crossing its constitutional boundary should it embarke on the investigation.
