The Ward 10 Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in the Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr Stephen Oshawo, on Thursday, explained why he suspended the former national chairman of the party, Mr Adams Oshiomhole.
He said Oshiomhole did not pay his pensions for eight months when he was governor of the state, adding that the pension backlog did not take Governor Godwin Obaseki one month to pay when he (Obaseki) assumed office.
He said this in Benin City, the state capital, when he received an award for good governance as an outstanding political icon of the year from the Chief Executive Officer of Mega House Entertainment, Goodluck Ogbeide.
He said, “I am very happy for the award. This award means a lot to me. It means that I should continue to do what I have done that warranted this award because I believe in truth, transparency, and also eliminating godfatherism.
“You know, this government believes in development and the masses. The truth is that, when the former government (Oshiomhole) was in power as the governor of the state, I was an insider, I was the chairman of Ward 10. I suffered many things and nobody knew me or recognised me.
“As a chairman to the governor of the state, I couldn’t receive my gratuity as a pensioner and as a chairman to Oshiomhole when he was still the governor of the state, I was not able to get my pension for eight months, but when Godwin Obaseki came in, it didn’t take him up to a month, he paid my gratuity and not only me but all the pensioners in Edo State.”
