The former Governor of Abia State and the immediate-past Senator who represented Abia Central district in the 9th Senate, Senator Theodore Orji, has flatly denied receiving any dime from the Abia State Government as pension since his exit as Governor in 2015.
Senator Orji who spoke on the heels of the recent abolition of the Abia State Governor’s and Deputy Governor’s Pensions Law by the State House of Assembly.
The bill, entitled: ”H.A.B 11: The Abia State Governor’s and Deputy Governor’s Pensions Law Repeal Bill 2024″ was sponsored by the Majority Leader and member representing Arochukwu state constituency, Hon. Okoro Uchenna Kalu.
Speaking through his former Chief Liaison Officer, Hon. Ifeanyi Umere, Senator Orji, said nobody had paid him any pension as a former governor, adding that he has also never asked for it as a matter of morality since he moved to the Senate immediately after leaving office as governor.
He said, ”Since T. A. Orji left office as governor, he has not received a penny as a pension. He transited from Governor to Senator, and he made it a point of morality that he would not, and he didn’t ask for any pension or question anybody about it because he is not interested in it.”
The former governor, who noted that the House of Assembly has the constitutional power to review any laws of the state, said he was not part of the scrapped pension law.
“The House of Assembly has the prerogative to periodically review the laws of the state. It’s in their power to do so, but nobody should link Senator Orji with the said pension law because nobody has paid him any pension since leaving office as governor.
“Senator Orji has not received any pension as a former governor, and as a statesman, he has not asked for any. He didn’t receive any pension from Okezie Ikpeazu and he didn’t pay anybody either.”
Leading the debate on the floor of the House, the sponsor of the Bill, argued that if passed into law, it would help to reduce the cost of governance.
According to him, the humongous amount used in paying the former governors and their deputies would have been channelled into other, better uses.
He said that it was not fair for the welfare of the majority of the citizens to be sacrificed on the altar of the comfort of only a few individuals who are already comfortable.
The Labour Party lawmaker, therefore, urged his colleagues to give the bill an accelerated hearing, and to consider it for passage.
Other members of the House spoke in favour of the bill, and later it was passed into law.
Announcing the passage of the bill, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emeruwa, commended his colleagues for their forthrightness, understanding, and maturity in supporting the passage of the Bill.
The Speaker who said the passage of the bill was in tandem with the yearnings of the majority of Abians, said the current Assembly would always make people-centric laws.