Metro

Vehicular, Human Movements Grounded In Benin As Pensioners Protest Non Payment Of Gratuities

Published

2 years ago

March 16, 2022

Editor

Vehicular and human movements were on Wednesday grounded at the ever-busy Oba Ovonramwen square popularly called Ring Road

as Edo State pensioners protested the non payment of gratuities between 2008 and 2012.

The blockade of the road by the pensioners resulted to heavy gridlock in major roads and adjoining streets such as Mission Road, Forestry Road, Sapele Road, Sakponba Road, Ekehuan Road, Uselu-Ugbowo axis and Airport Road linking the city centre.

The protest forced commuters to spend a major part of the day waiting for the pensioners to leave the routes while passengers had to alight from vehicles and trekked longer hours to get to their terminal point.

The retirees, drawn from the state and local government council, carried placards with inscriptions such as “Six years of this government no pensioner has been paid gratuity, pay us consequential adjustment base of 2019 minimum wage, save pensioners from avoidable death, pay us our gratuities, enough is enough,pay us our recent age increment,

The senior citizens who said they retired between 2008 and 2013 and served the governments diligently, said they should be duly compensated with their retirement benefits.

According to the retirees, state pensioners who retired from service in the year 2012 and 2013 were screened in April 2017 and their gratuity papers known as Yellow Paper were collected from them, adding that these set of pensioners are yet to be paid while some of the them have even passed away.

“Since 2008 to date local government pensioners have not been paid their gratuity. In addition to the above, majority of them have also not been paid their pension arrears”, they said.

Speaking, Marcus Afekhatse who retired in 2014, lamented that his gratuity has not been paid after eight years of retirement and it has made it difficult for him to cater for his family.

“Three groups are on the road today. Our colleagues in local government who retired in 2008 and has not been paid gratuity till date are here.

“At the state level, pensioners who retired since 2012 and have not been paid gratuity are also here while others are members still receiving pitiable sum such as N2000, N4000 as monthly pension since they retired over 20 years ago”, he added.

He claimed that the Permanent Secretaries that recently retired have been paid their gratuities at the expense of the lower cadre that have retired several years ago.

On her part, Josephine Aisagbovomwan, another pensioner, said the protest was to draw the attention of the world to their plights so that the state government can pay their gratuities.

Aisagbovomwan, who retired in 2017, said she is yet to get her gratuity, lamenting that she served the state for 35 years diligently only to be denied of her gratuity by the government she served faithfully.

Meanwhile, the Edo State government has assured pensioners that modalities are being put in place to offset the arrears of their gratuities.

Philip Shaibu, deputy governor of Edo State, gave the assurance while addressing protesting pensioners.

Shaibu, who pleaded with the pensioners to give the government time to resolve the issue, said it would be resolved.

Metro

Court Jails Social Media Influencer For Celebrity Scam

Published

7 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, has sentenced Aluko Tunmise to one year in prison for his involvement in a celebrity scam.

Tunmise was prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a cybercrime-related charge.

This was disclosed in a post on X by EFCC on Friday, May 17.

The post reads: “Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, convicted and sentenced one Aluko Tunmise, a self-acclaimed social media influencer and model, to one year imprisonment for celebrity scam.

He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrimes.”

“One of the counts reads: “That you, ALUKO TUNMISE JUWONLO (A.K.A. KEANU REEVES), sometime between January and March, 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, directly made a false statement, wherein you held yourself out as a white man by name “KEANU REEVES” on your Telegram Account, knowing same to be false and with intent that the representation is relied upon for the purpose of procuring the issuance of financial instrument to yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015′.

He pleaded ‘guilty’ to the charge when it was read to him.

Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C.Okezie, sought to present an operative of the EFCC, Vincent Sunday Kwambuge, to review the facts of the matter.

Kwanbuge told the court that the defendant was arrested sometime in March, 2024 at Lekki County Estate, Lagos, following credible intelligence received by the Commission on the activities of some internet fraudsters operating in the area.”

Metro

Three Children Rescued As Fire Guts Storey Building In Delta

Published

9 hours ago

May 17, 2024

Editor

Three children have been rescued as fire gutted a-storey building at the Obi Onuorah Crescent back of Okowe plaza in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The PUNCH correspondent who visited the fire scene on Friday, observed that the roof and the two apartments were razed down as property worth millions of naira was damaged.

However, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained as at the time of filling this report

Speaking, a widow and mother of four children, Mrs Gloria Sado who wept profusely appealed to Nigerians to come to her aid.

She said, “I came back Thursday night around 9 pm when I saw a fire burning in our house.

“My three children were in the house, one went with me to market, thank God, it was a lot of effort for my children to be rescued. I didn’t know the cause of the fire

“All the three fire services that came did not have water to quench the fire, our property was burnt to ashes”

Also, her neighbor, Simon Amalimen, and father of two said, “I was in my apartment when I heard fire, fire, I came out and noticed that the fire was coming out from my neighbor’s apartment.

“When learned that the three children were inside the apartment sleeping, we immediately moved into the fire to rescue the children, then, the fire had to gut my apartment.

“Before we could rescue them, the fire had entered my apartment and my two children and my wife were rescued. Only the boxers I wear are the clothes I came out with.”

He said before the third fire service could arrive, the two apartments and property had been burnt.

The victims were currently homeless as sympathizers were said to have gone to buy some clothes for them.

An official of the state fire service who did not want his name mentioned confirmed the incident.

Metro

Viral Video: “Please Stop Crying,” Soldiers In Tears After Losing Colleagues To Terrorists

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2024

Editor

In a now-viral video posted on X on Tuesday, soldiers of the Nigerian army were seen crying, seemingly after losing some of their colleagues to terrorist attacks.

The video posted by #X-Daily has become viral after X users have sympathised with the soldiers.

Although it is unsure of when the video was made or the actual cause of why the soldiers were crying, Nigeria has been faced with terrorist attacks for over two decades.

The post read, “Nigerian Soldiers in tears after losing their colleagues in Terrorist attack in Northern Nigeria.”

As seen in the video, soldiers are seen weeping while someone, presumably the one holding the camera, is comforting the soldiers and is heard telling them to stop crying.

“Stop crying please, stop crying,” the voice said.

“I tell you guys since morning, my mind no dey here, I no tell you?” he questioned in pidgin English.

Reacting, #Game_Boss360 wrote, “Those soldiers are really suffering out there.”

Another user, #calebuncovered, said, “This is why whenever I see civilians bashing soldiers on social media, it pains me deeply. As someone who grew up in the barracks, you have no idea what these guys do to protect this country. You have no idea how far they go to protect this country. They’re literally living a life of uncertainty because death can come anytime, and they would leave their family behind. Yet, some of you still come here and spew rubbish about soldiers.”

Meanwhile, #chrisndarl said, “This video hurts in so many ways ….so many ways man.”

A 2024 PUNCH report noted that Nigeria is grossly insecure. Under Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023), 63,111 Nigerians died in violence, SBM Intelligence stated.

“Nigeria was ranked the eighth most terrorised country in the world by the 2023 Global Terrorism Index.

“This has contributed to the shortfall in food production and the upswing in food inflation as Nigeria’s food basket regions are plagued with gnawing terrorism and insecurity,” the report stated.