THE State government, yesterday, stated that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa did not sign any new law approving jumbo pay and other allowances as pensions for ex-governors.
The state government explained that the only time the state Assembly effected minor changes in the law was in 2019 when it amended the law to include the late Prince Sam Obi, who was acting governor between November 10, 2010 and January 10, 2011.
Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, at a media briefing in Asaba, while dismissing the report making the rounds in some sections of the media, said the pension law for former governors has been in place in the state since 2005, and challenged purveyors of the report to provide date the law was passed by the House and when it was signed by the governor.
Aniagwu said: “You are all aware that for any law passed by the House of Assembly, the governor assents to; we don’t do it in secret. The Assembly sits in the open, deliberates on both First, Second and Third Readings on any of the bills before they are passed in the full glare of the media and members of the public.
“Before the governor assents to any bill, we invite the media to brief them as to the import of such law, and all of you are aware that Okowa did not sign any new law with respect to governor’s pension.
“What we have is an existing law that has been there before now. But just because they just want to talk and get at us, they are pushing it in the social media to make it look as if we are signing a new law for new benefits and all that.”
Aniagwu commended journalists in the state for their objective reporting of activities of state government, urging them to continue extending same hand of fellowship to the incoming administration.
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