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Omo-Agege To Okowa: ‘People Are Revolting Against You Out Of Hunger’, As Delta Govt Alleges Sponsoring Of Pensioners’ Protest

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Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, are currently bickering over planned protest by local government pensioners in the state.

Governor Okowa-led government had alleged that Omo-Agege was the mastermind behind the planned protest which they claimed is being package by an APC loyalist and ardent follower of Omo-Agege.
Okowa’s Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, in a statement, accused Omo-Agege of undermining the state government efforts in assisting the local governments to defray their outstanding pension liabilities, saying that Omo-Agege and the APC had been bent on sponsoring protests on the matter to ‘score cheap political points’.

Specifically, Aniagwu claimed that while some of the retirees are appreciative of the effort of the state government in helping to clear the outstanding pension liabilities, a certain woman leader of the APC allegedly bankrolled by Omo-Agege was being used to ‘blackmail the governor and paint him in bad light.

He said that investigation has revealed that Omo-Agege’s APC was again engineering a protest that is billed to take place on Monday.

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“We needed to let you know that these protests are being sponsored by the Governorship Candidate of the APC, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to go and protest and make it look as if we are not responsible even when we have continued to extend assistance to the local governments.

“You will recall that we concluded plans to extend N10 billion grant not loan to the local government but unfortunately the bridging finance didn’t come in but we are now taking steps to ensure that in the next couple of weeks that we are able to extend that grant to them.

“We are doing this because we believe that these persons are Deltans whether they worked for the local government or not we could still take steps in assisting them to boost not just their economy but that of the state.

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“But inspite of these effort, this woman who is being engineered to mobilise other persons in the APC still want to begin to move along that line,”

But Omo-Agege, in a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday, said that Governor Okowa was only chasing shadows and making bogus claims instead of paying the senior citizens their pensions and gratuities after serving the oil-rich state meritoriously.
Spokesman of the Delta State All Progressives Congress, APC, campaign council, Olorogun Ima Niboro, who responded on behest of Omo-Agege, said that allegation that the deputy President of the Senate was sponsoring women to protest non-payment of pensions of primary school retirees, is baseless, unfounded and deserves no serious attention.
“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? 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,” Niboro stated.

Aniagwu had at a news conference in Asaba, urged the general public to be wary of the protesters claiming that ‘they were obviously playing the cards of their political sponsors.

“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.

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“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.

“This is somebody who worked for the local government and as a state government we have continued to assist our local governments to meet up with a whole number of obligations in terms of paying salaries of their workers and at the same time assisting them in defraying liabilities owed their pensioners.

“This woman out of politics and inspite of the fact that her colleagues have continued to appreciate the effort of the state government towards ameliorating their plight by extending some grants to the local governments.

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“She has decided to turn it into politics and next week they have been engineered to go and protest again to embarrass the governor.

“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,”

He challenged Deltans to ask them questions on where they worked and who is supposed to pay their pensions even though the state government had continued to be magnanimous in helping the local governments.

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