The controversy over the payment of pension and allowances to Zamfara State former governors and their deputies took a new turn on Tuesday as the State House of Assembly abolished the law allowing it.
The abolished law also affects former Speakers of the State House of Assembly and their deputies.
The abolition was announced in a statement by Mustapha Jafaru, spokesman of the Zamfara House of Assembly on Tuesday.
The action of the legislators came on a day the letter written by a former governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, requesting the payment of his N10 million “monthly upkeep” by the government was leaked.
The letter reads:
“I wish to humbly draw your attention to the provision of the law on the above subject matter which was amended and assented to on the 23rd of March 2019.
“The law provides, among other entitlements of the Former Governor, a monthly upkeep allowance of Ten Million Naira (N10,000,000) only and a pension equivalent to the salary he was receiving while in office.
“Accordingly, you may wish to be informed that since the expiration of my tenure on the 29th of May, 2019. I was only paid the upkeep allowance twice i.e for the month of June and July while my pension for the month of June has not been paid.
“As the law provides, the pension and upkeep allowance are not in the category of privileges that can be truncated without any justifiable reason, hence, the need to request you to kindly direct the settlement of the total backlog of the pension and upkeep as provided by the law.”
