Court Pulls Plug On State Assemblies Enacting Pension Law For Acting Gov, Speaker

A Calabar Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court, has scuttled the moves by the former speaker of the Cross Rivers State Assembly, Rt. Hon Larry Okori-Odey, to enjoy pension benefit as acting governor of the state.

BIGPENNGR reports that this came after the court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the former speaker thus bringing to an end a year-longs controversy over States House of Assemblies having powers to enact law including acting governor on pension scheme.

Presiding on the suit, Justice Sanusi Kado of Industrial Court, declared the Cross River State Gubernatorial Pension Law amendment of 2015 that made provision for pension for the Acting Governor of the State or the Speaker State House of Assembly of the State having been made without the requisite power as null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

The judge declared that the lawsuit by the former speaker Rt. Hon Larry Okori-Odey  was lacking merit.

The Court held that the provisions of the constitution that donated the power to the state assembly to enact pension law clearly exclude the Acting Governor or Speaker of the House of assembly or his Deputy that the House of Assembly does not have the vires to make provisions for acting Governor.

The claimant, Hon Larry Okori-Odey who had served as Acting Governor of Cross River State from 27/1/2012 to February 2012 between the period he was a speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly from June 2011 to June 2015 stated that the Government of Cross Rivers state commenced payment of his pension entitlement in August 2015 as former Speaker, but not as former Governor without taking cognizance of the fact that he served as Acting Governor of the State and had not received a pension from March 2019 till date, sought for payment of his entitlements.

In defense, the Cross Rivers State and 3 others averred that the provisions of the State Gubernatorial Pension (amendment) Law 2015, is null and void for including the Acting Governor of State as one of the persons to benefit from the payment of Pension as a Governor that the Acting Governor only fill a void and he reverted to his position as Speaker and end his Tenure as a Speaker and not as a Governor that the payment of pension to the former Speaker will resume once he attends verification/audit exercise of pensioners.

In opposition, learned senior counsel, Mba Ukweni, SAN submitted that though Cross River State Gubernatorial Law, 2005 did not make provisions for the payment of pension to Acting Governors that the Law was amended to include such persons in the 2015 amendment that It was not the making of his client and if a Law is made which contains provisions that are to his benefit, he certainly has the right to take the benefit, urged the court to so hold.

After careful perusal of the submissions of both parties, Delivering the Judgment. the presiding Judge, Justice Sanusi Kado affirmed the power conferred on the state house of assembly by the constitution to enact a law to make provision for grant of the pension to the governor and deputy governor.

“The provisions of section 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended clearly and in unequivocal terms defined ‘Governor’ or ‘Deputy Governor’ to mean the Governor of a State or a Deputy Governor of a state. And there was no mention of Acting governor or Speaker of the House of Assembly or his Deputy.

“The combined effect of these constitutional provisions will revealed that an acting Governor is not a Governor for the purpose of provisions of section 124(5) and 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, likewise the Speaker or his Deputy are equally not Governor or Deputy Governor in the real sense, so they are never contemplated by the Constitution to be meant to benefit from pension provided by Section 124(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.

“However, there is no equivalent power in section 124(5) of the constitution for making provision for pension for the Acting Governor of the State or the Speaker of the House of Assembly of the State. This means that the Gubernatorial Pension Law amendment of 2015, which came into force on 19/5/2015, that was made with the sole aim of making provisions for payment of pension to Acting Governor and Speaker and Deputy Speaker was made without vires. The said amendment having been made without the requisite power is null and void and of no effect whatsoever.” Justice Kado ruled.