Ex-councillors, political appointees protest nonpayment of allowances

Stories by Stanley Onyekwere

Members, Forum of Ex-councillors and Former Political Office Holders in the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have stormed the office of the FCT minister, to protest the non-payment of their furniture and severance allowances, since 2016.
The former political officers, numbering about 50, staged a peaceful protest at the front of the Minister’s Block, to register their anger and frustration over the alleged refusal of the six FCT Area Council chairmen to pay them their entitlements.
Addressing newsmen, the secretary of the forum, Hon. Comrade Ishaq Kaura, alleged that the six area chairmen in the FCT have deliberately sat on their entitlement and refused to pay them.
According to him, “The money is there to pay us, but some people are deliberately enriching themselves to our disadvantage. The area council chairmen
are sitting on these entitlements and refused to pay this money to us.”
Kaura disclosed that after series of pressure from the forum, the area council chairmen only succeeded at paying 50 per cent of the allowances to their members, adding that about six members of the forum have died, while waiting for the payment.
He therefore drew the attention of the FCT minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello as well as President Muhammadu Buhari, to see the attitude of the chairmen as part of corruption at the area councils.
He further added that: “We have been crying since 2016 so that this administration can help us and break this vicious cycle that makes
politicians, who have served successfully, not to be paid their furniture allowances, not to talk of severance allowances.
“We have series of correspondents with the minister’s aides, including his mandate secretaries and the permanent secretary, concerning our plight. Some of us even have two slots of furniture and severance allowances not paid.”