TENSION OVER LEADERSHIP OF ADAMAWA STATE UNION OF PENSIONERS: Fintiri Administration called upon to take over office premises. By Dongso Dagbela

There is rising tension amongst the members of the Adamawa State Union of Pensioners. Their grievances are many and varied. Most importantly, the pensioners are angry over the alleged extension of the tenure of their present leaders who have exhausted their legal tenure but continue to remain in office illegally without constituting a Caretaker Committee to run the affairs of the Union pending when elections will hold to elect a new set of visionary, purposeful and people-oriented leaders. The current leadership of the Union of Pensioners in Adamawa State was elected in March, 2018. At the moment, it has exhausted its tenure and still hangs onto power forgetting that union affairs are guided by law, the constitution of the union.
In a terse statement released by a disturbed group of pensioners led by Mr. Justine Daniel Lerum, which was obtained by our reporter, the group said the present leadership of the Union “has exhausted its tenure and should have vacated office. However, it has stay-put in office and neither relinquished its powers or constituted a Caretaker Committee to manage the affairs of the Union.”
It noted that: “In the past four years, the leadership of the union shrouded its activities in secrecy and kept its members in darkness thinking this is the best way to retain leadership and keep members in line. It forgets that power flows from the large followers of the union, not vice versa. Now, the few leaders must be told their time is up and they must hand over to a Caretaker Committee to manage the affairs of the Union pending when elections will hold soonest.
“During the last election, we elected mostly elderly persons as leaders thinking they would transform the archaic management style they met on ground and effectively and efficiently manage the affairs of the union to the satisfaction of the members. To our chagrin, we’ve discovered that we were mistaken; we mistook wolves for sheep. Now, we know better, although we are paying dearly for the big error.
“Now that the game is up, and no more tricks will sustain the current illegal leadership, it should immediately hand over the Union Office to a Management Committee. We call on the Adamawa State Government to take over the office premises and hand it over to a Caretaker Committee pending when machinery is set up to conduct free, fair and credible elections to elect new Union leaders in the state. The government should not condone any illegality.”
Some of the grouses of the dissatisfied and angry group of pensioners are that finances of the Union are kept secret as they have never been made public to the pensioners or the good people of Adamawa State. So, honesty, probity and accountability have been at the core of the Union’s problems. Secondly, the payments of pension do not seem to be a priority of the union leaders; they are preoccupied with their own welfare packages to the detriment of the suffering pensioners in the state. If the general welfare of members is relegated to the background, why were the leaders elected in the first place? Governor Fintiri has done much for pensioners in the state. On assumption of office, he released N1.5 billion to the State Pension Board and a similar amount to the Local Government Pension Board. Now, he has just released another huge sum amounting to N1.3 billion for pension payment. We remain grateful, His Excellency.
The leadership quality and the poor records of performance are some of the pressing issues raising tension in the Adamawa State Union of Pensioners and they are the current cause of disaffection in the state. The Fintiri Administration should urgently address these issues in order to ensure regime change and more equitable and progressive management of pension affairs in the state.