By Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
This is not the best of times for Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, as another great son of the state and Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has rejected the Toyota Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) his administration procured for him.
The minister, who is from the same community with the governor, said that he was rejecting the gift because the laws of the state excluded him from those qualified to receive such.
Onu drew the attention of the governor to relevant sections of the constitution and how the state House of Assembly abused its powers to “technically” edge him out of his deserved pension, being a former governor of Old Abia State.
He said: “It is important that I draw your attention to provision of Section 124(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which says: ‘Provisions may be made a law of a House of Assembly for the provision of person to or in respect of a person who has held the office of a governor or deputy governor and was not removed from office as a result of impeachment and any pension granted by virtue of any provision made in pursuance of the sub-section shall be a charge upon the consolidated revenue fund of the state.
“Instructively, a law enacted by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, titled: ‘Ebonyi State Specified Offices Pensions and Related Matters Law, 2007, Section 3’ defines a governor as a ‘Civilian Governor of or from Ebonyi State of Nigeria’.
“Rather curiously, four years later, the same House of Assembly enacted a law, ‘Ebonyi State Specified Offices Pensions and Related Matters Law (amendment) Law, 2011,’ wherein a governor was defined as ‘a civilian Governor of Ebonyi State of Nigeria’.”
Onu said that it was clear that he was the target of the change ‘in an apparent design to deny me of my due pension entitlement’.
Onu stated: “This is especially so in the circumstance where it is the duty of the state government to do so as a responsibility of the sharing of assets between Ebonyi and Abia states. You will recall that I was the first elected governor of Abia State, in which a part later became a constituent part of Ebonyi State.”
The minister urged Umahi to redress the alleged injustice done to him in the interest of fairness, justice and respect for the constitution of the country, noting that “Laws are not made to suit personal prejudices. Laws are made to serve enduring attributes of good conscience honour and equity.
“Accordingly, in view of the prevailing circumstance, I regret to inform you that I cannot accept the gift of a Lexus SUV. I do so with a deep sense of responsibility and conscious of the important need to build a better Ebonyi State where respect for the rule of law and the people’s will as well as the pursuit of their happiness will remain sacred,” the minister said.
