Civil Society and Pro-Democracy Group, the Wailing Wailers have asked Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to stop what it described as the fraudulent retirement pension package approved by the Edo State House of Assembly for ex-governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his deputy, Dr Pius Odubu.

Odubu-Oshiomhole

The Wailing Wailers in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Usman Abubakar, decried that the N300million retirement package to be drawn from the Edo state treasury by Oshiomhole and Odubu is “outrageous and too bogus to be taken from a state where jobless youths are roaming the streets, salaries are not being paid and over 45 months pension arrears of senior citizens who have served the state meritoriously are still outstanding.”

The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to the dangerous and outrageous pension package the immediate past Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his deputy, Dr Pius Odubu want to take from the Edo State treasury.

“We want to state this without any fear or favour that the N300,000,000 is outrageous and too bogus to be taken from a state where jobless youths are roaming the streets, salaries are not being paid and over 45 months pension arrears of senior citizens who have served the state meritoriously are still outstanding.

“Governor Adams Oshiomhole is trying to use the Pension amendment law as his last minute looting of Edo State Treasury by proxy via his newly installed Governor, Godwin Obaseki.

“Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who is seeking a mouth-watering pension has left the state in serious debt amounting to over N200 Billion which will take several years to clear and still deem right to add more burden on the people, wrecking more havoc on the state by his demand for a ridiculously bogus pension.

“In the recent past, Adams Oshiomhole as a serial propagandist and his legion of online cretins raised alarm over similar cases for the then leaders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) calling them corrupt for taking huge pension after retirements.

“We call on the state assembly to repel the anti-peoples pension law they are packaging for Oshiomhole. Serving as a governor should be a selfless service one should be proud of, not seeking to use the avenue to enrich oneself as commonly practised by some greedy Nigerian leaders.

“It will be recalled that when Adams Oshiomhole was still on the side of the people during his activism days as a labour leader in Textile Workers’ House, Kaduna and NLC President, he detested unreasonable pension packages for politicians.

“We are now wondering what has changed Oshiomhole from his old portrayed principle of integrity and sincerity to true service of humanity. The pension he is now seeking is stack robbery of Edo people.

“We expect that Adams Oshiomhole should be satisfied with all that he has benefited during his tenure as the governor of Edo State. We call on Godwin Obaseki to stop the ridiculously outrageous pension package as we are sure it does not represent the interest of the good people of Edo State.”

“We will not hesitate to take the governor to court if he goes ahead to approve N200m and N100m retirement package for Adams Oshiomhole and his deputy respectively.

“The country is seriously in recession where people can barely eat once daily, pay their children’s school fees, whereas the leaders prefer to keep living in affluence and flamboyancy even after leaving the office. It is very sad that these are the characters President Buhari eulogized and wants to invite to work with him in Abuja,” the statement added.