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Benue points fingers at those it claims instigated pensioners’ protest
The recent protest by an aggrieved faction of pensioners against the Benue State government has been blamed on the All Progressive Congress (APC)
The accusation was leveled against the APC and retired Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, by the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which noted that it became clear that the pair were responsible for the protests when the APC and Alhaji Tsav were sighted allegedly distributing food to the protesters and encouraging them to continue with demonstrations.
State Chairman of the PDP, Sir John Ngbede, who made the position of his party known on Saturday in Makurdi, also informed that the Benue State government had not neglected pensioners, noting that the issue of backlog started in 1999.
He said; “This government has not neglected our pensioners, the truth is that the issue of backlog did not start today it has been there even before 1999. But this government has paid N18billion and is still paying, so why the protest.
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“If you look at the entire thing you will see the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob. More disturbing is the appearance of Alhaji Abubakar Tsav and other APC members at the scene of the protest.
“Strangely we had issues of herdsmen killings in Benue state Alhaji Tsav never said anything but in this protest he showed up. We suspect that there is more to this protest than meet the eyes. So we are accusing him of sponsoring the protest.
“We also acknowledged the involvement of APC members in this whole thing. They are doing everything to run down our government including using retirees and the elderly. We totally condemn their action and assure the pensioners that the government is doing everything to regularly pay them.
“They all need to be patient because the Pension Commission which has retirees as members will in no distant time tackle the challenge of pension in the state and everyone will be happier for it.”
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