Former Nigerian ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Hassan Jika Ardo, has expressed sadness at the pitiable condition of pensioners in Taraba State.
Ardo, who is also a pensioner in the state civil service, lamented that “some pensioners in the state have lost their homes due to poverty.
He said some children of pensioners have gone into unwholesome activities as a result, making their parents more hypertensive due to frustration and poverty.
He alleged that the State Governor, Darius Ishaku inflicted pain on the pensioners despite them serving the state for 35 years.
The ongoing seven-day prayer and fasting embarked on by the pensioners against the governor’s senatorial ambition, he claimed will be answered by God.
The former ambassador who is now the state coordinator of the Independent Grassroots Presidential Campaign Council for Tinubu/Shettima said God will answer the state pensioners’ prayers against Darius Ishaku.
“I am a retired civil servant with the Taraba State government and I am part of those that are on a seven days prayers and fasting against the governor’s Senate bid,” he said “I sympathise with all pensioners in Taraba who have inhumanly been subjected into the sorry situation after serving the government for 35 years.”
The outspoken former ambassador, who was of the view that “Pension is a right after completing your legitimate service years as a civil servant” said, “It is not a privilege that one would say he is doing you a favour.”
The governor, as stated by him “has an abysmal record of governance with no meaningful project, even the ones that were built by previous administrations have been abandoned to decay.”
”All the state can boast of as of today is a division among ethnic and religious lines, we have never had this in the history of Taraba since during the military era,” Ardo said.
