The immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has written his successor, Bello Matawalle, asking him to pay his outstanding ‘monthly upkeep allowance’ and pension.

Yari’s letter, dated October 17, addressed to the incumbent governor is presently making the rounds on social media and has evoked a series of reactions from social media users.

In the letter, Yari said he is entitled to N10 million monthly as an upkeep allowance, but he has only been paid twice (June and July) since he left office on May 29.

Quoting a law amended by the State House of Assembly in March, the former governor said the law provides for the entitlement of former governors, deputies, speakers and deputy speakers.

He warned that the law should not be truncated “without any justifiable reason”, and demanded the “settlement of the total backlog of the pension and upkeep as provided by the law”.

Yari wrote:

“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.

“While thanking you most sincerely for the anticipated positive action, please accept my high regards and esteem.”

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Some Nigerians have taken to Twitter to poke fun at the letter and the letterhead with the tag “Office of the Former Governor, Zamfara State”.

Some describe the tag of “Office of the Former Governor, Zamfara State” as disappointing, while others also described Yari’s letter as a product of greed and lack of shame.

A Twitter user Sara Omalicha tweeted:

Now, what is d meaning of GREED again? If someone can amend d constitution of his State in order to be collecting N10M monthly & still receives pension equivalent of his salary when in office, it’s safe to say many of our politicians are d “Devil” we’ve been binding in churches. pic.twitter.com/9X3s7tCRT4

— Sara N. Omalicha (@SaraOmalicha) November 25, 2019

 

See other reactions:

Which one is “Office of the former Governor” again? This is just a waste of letterhead paper https://t.co/hKB3dx0lJN

— El Commandante (@MrLekanAdigun) November 25, 2019

In Nigeria we now have “Office of the former Governor”

Under same Yari, bandit took over Zamfara State, killing people and displacing hundreds more from their homes. But it didn’t stop him from enacting a law to keep being taken care of from state treasury.

What a joke.

— Agala Uchenna (@UchebobAgala) November 25, 2019

Office of the former governor,Zamfara.??
Still trying to ride on the office that you are no longer holding.
What is all these. https://t.co/bZw0WtUqqn

— Mustapha M.K (@Mustilamento) November 25, 2019

Not really every State. Saraki amended that of Kwara before leaving and Yari now also amended zamfara’s.

There’s nowhere in any state’s constitution where it’s being mandated to pay this salaries after office and still collect pension. The greedy always amend it to suit them.

— Sara N. Omalicha (@SaraOmalicha) November 25, 2019