Retirees in the Osun State civil service have asked the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, not to honour Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s invitation to visit the state for the inauguration of some of his completed projects.
The pensioners accused the Vice President of alleged insensitivity to their plights by not prevailing on Governor Aregbesola to pay them the backlog of the gratuities and pensions owed them.
It was gathered that Aregbesola had been preparing to mark his seventh anniversary and is expecting Vice President Osinbajo in the state to inaugurate some of his administration’s projects on November 28.
Specifically, the senior citizens claimed that they had written several “Save Our Souls” letters to Vice President Osinbajo, but he had allegedly refused to act on them.
The pensioners, who had occupied the streets of Osogbo to protest the nonpayment of their gratuities and pensions by the state government, rained curses on Osinbajo and Aregbesola.
They had converged on the Ayetoro area and made a procession to Olaiya Junction, where they gathered and caused a traffic snarl on the busy roads.
According to them, the state government is owing them five years’ gratuity and 10 and a half months’ pension arrears.
The pensioners, who carried placards with various inscriptions, accused Governor Aregbesola of deliberately denying them their entitlement after they had served the state meritoriously.
Arguing that many of their colleagues had died, owing to lack of money to feed and get medical care, the pensioners rained unprintable curses on Aregbesola for allegedly torturing pensioners in the state.
Speaking for the 2011/2012 group of Pensioners in Osun, Mr. Ilesanmi Omoniyi, claimed that over 2,000 of their members had, so far, died due to their inability to take care of themselves.
Omoniyi argued that Governor Aregbesola should be charged to court for the death of the over 2,000 pensioners in the state.
He said, “Unless Aregbesola pays us the backlog of our outstanding gratuities and pensions, he will never know peace. We are dying everyday and if we are to count these deaths, over 2,000 pensioners have died in this state owing to lack of money to get medical attention and even eat. Aregbesola should be charged for genocide.
“We are hearing that Osinbajo is billed to be in the state any moment from now, but we are warning him to desist from doing that because we will disgrace him. It’s unfortunate that Osinbajo is supporting Aregbesola to deny us our entitlements. We wrote his office several times and requested that he should intervene in our predicaments, but he has done nothing about it. He should stay away from Osun, or else, he will regret it.”
One of the leaders of the pensioners, Mr. Yemi Lawal, told our correspondent that the state government was owing them 10-month pensions, adding that the gratuities of those who retired between 2008 and 2012 had not been paid.
“We have been suffering since Aregbesola came into power in Osun. Most of our members have died just because a governor (Aregbesola) refused to pay them their entitlements. This is devilish. Imagine, someone who sacrificed his time, energy and life in working for the state could not buy an inhaler to treat himself because he was denied his money,” Lawal said.
But reacting to the development, the state government through the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa, accused the pensioners of blackmail, saying, “The state government of Osun has described as disturbing and unfortunate, the continued blackmailing and serial attempt to discredit the government by the 2011/2012 forum of pensioners, who had taken to habitually lying in pursuit of political goal than real pension matters.”
