Retirees in Osun state, Wednesday stormed the government secretariat, Abere, Osogbo, toprotest unpaid pension arrears.
The angry senior citizens prevented workers from entry the secretariat as they carried placards of various inscriptions and chanted anti-government songs.
Some of their placards read: “We are Dying of Hunger”, “Masses, Help Us We Are Dying”, “Dead People Cannot Enjoy Infrastructure,” among others.
Efforts by the Head of Service of the State, Dr Festus Oyebade Olowogboyega, to pacify the protesters proved futile as the angry retirees shouted at him.
Instead of listening to the HoS, the retirees were shouting “go, go, we don’t want to hear anything from you, You are all thieves.”
According to them, the state government refused to pay their 30 months half-salary arrears (2016 till date), non-payment of gratuities (2015 till date) and non-payment of their monthly pensions since 2015.
Speaking, Awodele Abiodun, urged stakeholders to assist the helpless and some homeless senior citizens to get their entitlements.
He stated that despite their sickness and old age, the state government had neglected them, adding that many of them have died of hunger.
He said, “some of us find it difficult to even buy drugs and other essentials because our monies have not been paid by the state government.”
Another retiree, Mr Sunday Idowu, described refusal of the government to pay pensioners as an act of irresponsibility.
He said, “Oyetola came on board and he’s boasting of not owing workers salaries. What then happens to some of us dying because of the negligence caused by his boss, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who is now the current Minister of Interior.
“We are dying of hunger and that’s why we took our protest to major streets of Osogbo for the stakeholders to help intervene,” he lamented.
