The Delta State government has accused the Deputy Senate President and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ovie Omo-Agege, of sponsoring local government pensioners’ protests against Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the state government.
Reacting to the planned "mother of all protests" by the Concerned Delta State Local Government Contributory Retirees Forum against the governor over what the forum described as "failed N10 billion promises" by the governor as well as death of members for the past eight months, the Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, in a press briefing on Friday in Asaba, the state capital, alleged that Omo-Agege and the APC were bent on sponsoring protests on the matter to score cheap political points.
The Concerned Delta State Local Government Contributory Retirees Forum had planned what it called "mother of all protests" against Okowa over what it described as "failed N10 billion promises" by the governor.
The group noted that Okowa, who is the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, had in March 2022 made a promise of releasing N10 billion to them for the payment of their pensions, gratuities and other entitlements but failed to keep his promise eight months after.
According to Aniagwu, the general public should be wary of the protesters as they were obviously playing the cards of their political sponsors, saying some of the retirees appreciated the effort of the state government in helping to clear the outstanding pension liabilities even as he alleged that a certain women leader of the APC was being used to blackmail the governor and paint him in bad light.
"We have it on good authority that the All Progressives Congress (APC) have again engineered a protest that is billed to take place on Monday. You will recall that last time I briefed you on this issue, I told you about a lady who is the woman leader of the APC in one of our local governments. She is a retired local government staff who has continued to use her position in APC to mobilise a few other persons to protest against the government on account of the issue of outstanding pension liabilities.
"They have done it before and they want to do it again and as part of their arrangement they will film it and put on the social media and make it look as if we are not doing what we needed to do.”
Reacting, in a press statement on behalf of Ovie Omo-Agege, signed by his campaign council director, communications and media strategy, Ima Niboro, said the allegation was baseless, unfounded and deserves no serious attention.
The council advised the state governor to stop chasing shadows and pay senior citizens their pensions and gratuities after serving the oil-rich state meritoriously.
"Was it Omo-Agege that made them not pay pensions? Is it Omo-Agege that is making them take loans in billions to prosecute PDP presidential election, while pensioners who gave their entire lives in the service of the state remain unpaid?" the council queried.
While expressing regret at what he called "the ill-treatment meted" to pensioners by the Okowa government, Niboro, promised that the APC administration to be led by Omo-Agege, would give Deltans a better deal, and place high premium on clearing outstanding pensions and gratuities.
"Some have died or are dying in abject penury. Do you need anyone to sponsor hungry people to pour out on the streets?. Okowa keeps chasing shadows, always leaving the real issues and blaming everyone but his incompetence and insensitivity to the plight of our people. Omo-Agege doesn’t need to sponsor anyone. Anger, bitterness and sheer suffering is sending people into the streets. We advise Okowa to change his ways. Delta State has never had it this bad," the statement stated.