Constitutional ineligibility excludes ex-Kebbi governor from entitlements – State authorities

The Kebbi state authorities has cited constitutional provisions as causes which disqualified former civilian governor, Abubakar Musa, from having fun with entitlements after leaving workplace.

The authorities was reacting to the allegations of the previous governor that his entitlements had both been withheld or by no means paid since he left workplace.

At a press briefing in Birnin Kebbi Tuesday, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Yakubu Ahmed Birnin Kebbi, defined that Abubakar Musa served as governor from January 1992 – November 1993, a complete of twenty-two months.

“This interval falls in need of the two-year minimal tenure that the related authorized framework requires for a former governor to qualify for the cost of pension and gratuity.

“In February 2010, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, wrote to the then governor and the Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, directing the payment of pension and gratuity to state governors and their deputies in accordance with sections 84(5) and 124(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”,

“The Commission’s direrctive, grounded in those constitutional provisions, specifically limited the application of pension and gratuity to the immediate past governor and deputy who served from 1999 to 2003; it clearly excluded governors who held office between1991 and 1993.”

The 1999 Constitution which first made detailed provision for the pension and gratuity of former governors, doesn’t lengthen these advantages retroactively to governors who served earlier than its graduation”,

“Successive administrations in Kebbi state long before the incumbent administration, relied on these constitutional provisions to exclude Abubakar Musa from the payment of formal severance gratuity, pension and related entitlements”, the Commissioner defined.

Yakubu added that regardless of these clear authorized restrictions, Governor Nasir Idris has repeatedly demonstrated compassion and magnanimity towards the previous governor in recognition of his contribution to the event of Kebbi and as an elder statesman.