Date: 2017-06-02

About 6,000 pensioners in Kwara State have appealed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, to reverse the Supreme Court judgement on them over N1.68bn owed by the Kwara State Government.

The Chairman of the Concerned Pensioners of Kwara State, Mr. Phillips Oloruntola, in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, said since their litigation commenced from the state High Court about nine years ago, no fewer than 2,000 of their members had died as a result of hardship.

He claimed that the Federal Government had awarded N3.3bn to civil servants in the state between 1999 and 2000.

According to him, a former governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki, paid them N1.68bn out of the N3.3bn.

He stated that they were surprised when the then Head of Service, Alhaji Muhammed Dabarako, said the state government would use the balance of the money to develop the state.

Oloruntola said they opposed the idea and headed for the court. He stated that they lost at the state high court, but won at the Court of Appeal, Ilorin division.

He said, "After six months, the state government appealed to the Supreme Court in 2011."

Oloruntola said, "We were surprised that the Supreme Court, in its judgement on April 28, 2017, ordered that the matter should be retried at the state high court.

"We are pleading with the Supreme Court to reverse its judgement and order the state government to pay us the balance of their money.

However, the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, had recently said the state government did not owe the state civil servants and pensioners.