Abdulganiyu Abdulqadir, the Press Officer, Local Matters to the former Governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki has slammed Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State over his plan to revoke the law that guarantees life pension for ex-governors. 

The state governor had on Friday, November 13, 2020, announced his readiness to send an executive bill to the House of Assembly to repeal the pension law. 

In a statement by Rafiu Ajakaye, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Abdulrazaq said he would send the bill to the State Assembly next week.

The governor said this, days after Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu promised to repeal a similar law.

Reacting to the statement, Saraki’s aide asked Governor Abdulrazaq to check records before copying policies from Lagos State word for word. 

He said the law had been revoked since 2018, adding that Saraki had stopped receiving pension since then. 

Abdulqadir said, “It is worrisome how politics is clouding the judgement of the present administration under Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and making it become desperate to score cheap political points, not minding the embarrassment it is causing the good people of the state.

“It would be recalled that in February 2018, the Kwara State House of Assembly revised the law and abolished payment of the pension, a move that was publicly hailed by then Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.

“Since the review of the law in 2018, Saraki has stopped receiving any pension from the state government. These are verifiable facts that are in possession of the Kwara State Government. If there is any contrary information to this, we urge the incumbent governor to inform the public.

“It is now worrisome and an embarrassment to all Kwarans that a law that has since been repealed in the state is the same law Governor Abdulrahman is claiming that he intends to abolish. Must this administration copy everything from Lagos word for word?”

The Abdulrazaqs and the Sarakis have remained the two main families controlling Kwara politics since the 70s when the patriarchs of the families, the late Alhaji Abdulganiy Abdulrazaq Folohunsho and the late Olusola Saraki established themselves as political giants in the state.