Incorporated Trustees of Bridges and Hands Foundation have sued the Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, Titus Uba, and other members of the Assembly, alongside the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice over the bill seeking a humongous pension and retirement package for governors.

Governor Samuel Ortom had sent ‘A bill to make provision for the maintenance of former governors of the state and their deputies and other related matters connected thereto’ to the Assembly. The bill wants a life pension for former governors and their deputies.

The group seeks the following reliefs: “A determination whether the executive bill sponsored by the Benue State government for the maintenance of former governors and deputy governors is reasonably justifiable in a democracy, when civil servants, who served the state for 35 years are owed over 35 months of pensions and gratuities.

“Whether the House of Assembly can legitimately legislate on former governors and their deputies, when their entitlements and benefits are decided by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and paid from the federation account during their terms as governors and deputy governors.”

Other reliefs the group sought include, whether the Assembly will not be acting ultra vires to legislate on the bill when no legislative item in that regard is provided for in the Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Therefore, it asked the court to restrain the defendants from proceeding with any hearing in respect of the bill.

According to the bill sighted by The Guardian, the governor shall enjoy a monthly stipend, equivalent to the salary of a serving governor, for life and which shall be a charge on the consolidated revenue fund of the state.

The governor will also get residential permanent accommodation in any town of their choice, built by the state in Nigeria; four official cars (chauffeur driven) to be maintained by the state, while the deputy shall have two official cars. The vehicles shall be replaced every four years, as the case may be, with new ones of the same quality.

The hearing has been fixed for May 5, 2023. All parties were directed to be served with the relevant processes.