Former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has said details of how he cleared over N35 billion pension and gratuity had never and could not be in dispute as all actions he took were properly documented and would be made available to anybody who desired to see it.
Obi, in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, was reacting to claim by Sen. Chris Ngige that he did not pay the N35 billion as he claimed.
Obi said he was not interested in what anybody else paid or claimed to have paid as pensions and gratuity except his own payments and would, therefore, not join issues with anybody in that regard.
The statement said Anambrarians were aware that details of Obi’s pension and gratuity payments had always been volunteered by the Commissioners of local government during his tenure, Mr. Dubem Obaze and Mrs Azuka Enemo, but that in any case, the records would be made available to any person who desired them.
Insisting that the issues at hand were easy to decipher, the statement said: “There is no point trying to make up issues where there are none. Most pensioners are still alive and very alert mentally. Anybody desirous of knowing the truth as it pertains to the payment of their pension and gratuity should go to Anambra State and ask them.”
On the allusion to faulty recourse to statistics, the statement, said: “In Nigeria today, Obi is a known expert in economics and he is empirical in discussing economic issues which makes him to quote a lot of statistics by heart to almost every purpose. In doing this, he makes sure he quotes the right statistics and in the event where mischief-makers had tried to dispute his figures, he rested the case by volunteering the source of his statistics.
“We, therefore, wonder what any person wants to gain by resurrecting a dead case.”
Though the statement acknowledged seeing Ngige’s claims clearing over N60 billion pension and gratuity arears, which almost doubled what Obi paid, it said it was not its brief to start interrogating him, as, according to him, anybody was free to claim anything, but that in Obi’s own case there were documentary evidence to show.
On claim by Ngige that he returned schools to the church, the statement said: “From Sen. Chris Ngige’s claims, does it mean the owners of the returned schools are so confused and irrational as not to know who returned their property to them?”