The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Southwest Zone has berated a former president of the country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for publicly disrespecting some traditional rulers in the state.
The elderly citizens who felt bad about the public humiliation asked the former president to publicly apologize to the traditional institution and desist from such immoral attitude.
The former President was reported to have ordered some monarchs to stand up and sit down during an inauguration of a road project by Governor Makinde, at Iseyin, Oyo State last week. Obasanjo has since been under attack over the act, which was considered to be an insult on the Yoruba Obas.
Addressing newsmen in Ado Ekiti after its Zonal meeting, hosted by Ekiti and held in Ado Ekiti, the Public Relations Officer of the union, Dr. Olusegun Abatan said the elders would not fold its arms and allow anyone no matter how highly placed to desecrate the traditional institution which is one of the symbol of the Youba culture and tradition.
“The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, South-West zone frowns seriously at this action of His Excellency Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. We hope that he is going to make amends with the Obas. It is not right to denigrate the tradition and culture of our land.”
While commending the Governors in the six South-West states for being pensioners-friendly, they called for harmonization and increment in the minimum leaving pension.
“We are requesting that our governors in the South-West to please address the payments of gratuities that have amounted to billions of Naira in the various states, payment of arrears of pensions and harmonization.
“We also want our governments in the South-West to address the issue of pension because we have pensioners in all the six states of the South-West that earn as little as 350, 500, 600 in some states. Pensioners want a minimum leaving pension of up to N40,000. We want harmonization of pension.”
” He hoped that the union would soon decorate Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State for his strides to make life better for pensioners.
They equally called on President Bola Tinubu and state governors to desist from sacking workers at both the federal and state level of government adding that the removal of fuel subsidy has caused more hardship to the citizens.
“About a month or two ago, His Excellency President Bola Tinubu made a statement that whenever he saw the salary bill of workers in Abuja that he shivers. I hope this statement is not a signal that workers at the federal level and governors taking the same thing at the state level doesn’t translate to mass sack of workers both at the federal and state levels.
“This is not the time to start thinking about the sack of workers but a time to lift Nigerians out of the problem caused sudden removal of petrol subsidy and the economic downturn.”