From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The immediate past Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, has said he has not been receiving pension from the state government since he left office.
Ikpeazu spoke against the backdrop of the repeal of Abia State Ex-Governors and Ex- Deputy Governors Pensions Law by the State House of Assembly and naming him in some quarters among past governors whose life pension was stopped by the Alex Otti-led Abia State government.
The House had during plenary on Tuesday, through a motion sponsored by the Majority Leader, Hon Uchenna Okoro.
The Bill is known as H.A.B 11: Law to Revoke the Abia State Governors and Deputy Governors Pensions Law No 4 of 2001 and for other Matters connected therewith.
In a statement signed by his spokesman, Onyebuchi Ememanka, Ikpeazu accused the administration of engaging in media sensationalism, saying he never received such pension since he left office.
He said since handing over the reins of power as Governor of Abia State on May 29, 2023, he has neither requested for, nor received from the Abia State government, any money under whatever guise, and has no intentions of doing so.
Ikpeazu said that the reports naming him among the former governors that are receiving pensions after leaving office were sponsored to create a false impression about him.
“Former Governor Ikpeazu has since moved on with his life and is currently engaged in other areas of interest to him.”
The statement advised the Abia State Government and her various organs to face the business of governance and desist from engaging in needless media sensationalism.
A former Governor of the state and now Senator representing Abia North in the upper legislative chamber, Orji Uzor Kalu had sometime ago made it clear that he had not received any pension from the state government since he left office in 2007.