Uneasy calm in Benue Assembly over pension bill

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

There is an uneasy calm in the corridors of legislative and executive power brokers in Benue State, in the wake of Thursday’s palpable tension at the Benue State House of Assembly, as heavy security and suspected thugs barricaded the complex.
Peoples Daily had gathered that there were alleged plans by the state lawmakers to be coerced into passing the controversial Life Pension bill proposed by the outgoing Governor Samuel Ortom’s administration.
Confirming the incident, in chat with our correspondent on phone, a member representing Tarka State Constituency, said the bill will not see the light of day, arguing that the Governor is owing members 6 months and cannot compel them to pass the bill.
“Yes, I was in attendance at the plenary. I was not coerced into sitting. I was around on my own volition. We decided to pass the Bill because it has to do with our tertiary Institutions.
“So, what we did was basically to amend laws that were already in place.
“Two polytechnics and three colleges of education and then we worked on the bill on widows Commission. We were about 17 members out of 30”, he said.
On his part, the member representing Vandeikya Tiev Constituency, Terkaa Ucha said he was marked for harassment but ran for his dear life, maintaining that the Pension Bill cannot be passed because the Governor is not pension friendly.
“Ortom cannot pass that bill in Benue state. If he is pension friendly, we will know because my mother is a pensioner and my father died a pensioner.
“My vehicle was not vandalized but I was penciled down to be harassed but I got the information and ran for my life”, Ucha said.