Kano officials cheated retired civil servant of pension, caused death – Governor

The Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, narrated how an unnamed retired civil servant died after bribing an official of the state government in an attempt to get his entitlement paid.

Mr Yusuf claimed the pensioner, who was in dire need of money for his daughter’s wedding expenses, was asked by the officials to forfeit one-third of his gratuity if he wanted it to be promptly paid.

“The pensioner got his daughter’s wedding prolonged unnecessarily because of his financial inability.

“He sought his retirement benefits in the previous administration but they demanded that he must pay one-third of his gratuity.

“He struggled and provided the amount but still, he was denied his right. That is how he got a heart attack and died. Today we paid his heirs his entitlements,” the governor said.

The governor said this on Saturday while flagging off the payment of N6bn gratuity and death benefits of over 5,000 pensioners in the state.

My Yusuf blamed the immediate past administration for being insensitive to the plight of retirees in the state.

He said his administration inherited a huge pension liability.

He said many pensioners died without being paid their gratuities.

How travail of pensioners began in Kano

In 2015, the pensioners’ union petitioned former governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC) demanding the repatriation of N2 billion pension money allegedly deposited by Mr Kwankwaso in a failed bank.

The pensioners, in a petition dated 20 May 2015 and signed by one of their counsel, Bulama Bukarti, said the state pensioners’ trustees deposited N2 billion in Euro Bank Plc, Kano branch, on the instruction of Mr Kwankwaso.

They said soon after the deposit was made, the bank went into liquidation and the former governor refused to follow up on claims. They asked the EFCC to invite Mr Kwankwaso to explain why he refused to follow up on the case of the N2 billion pension fund at the NDIC.

The petitioners noted that Mr Kwankwaso was not a trustee of their funds and thus lacked the authority to deal with the funds as he liked.

Also in the petition, they queried the continued withholding of their money, about N10 billion, by the commissioner for finance and the accountant-general under Mr Kwankwaso.

They said when they began to ask questions, the former governor told them he had purchased three warehouses for them at the Free Trade Zone in Kano.

He also said his housing project, Amana City, had been transferred to the pension trust fund instead of the retained N10 billion.

The petitioners, however, noted that Mr Kwankwaso’s actions were illegal and bordered on fraud.

“For this and many more we ask the EFCC to do a thorough job to unravel the fraud done in all issues relating to us,” the pensioners said in their 2015 petition to the EFCC.

According to the petitioners, Mr Kwankwaso had directed that pension remittances be used for building houses for pensioners.

A tripartite deal was reached between Kano State Pension Trust Funds as the investors and Kano State Investment and Property Limited and Kano State Housing Corporation Limited as developers on a 60:40 sharing ratio.

However, after contracts for the construction of 1,579 houses were awarded for the development of the properties, the petitioners alleged Mr Kwankwaso “manipulated” the process and terminated the term of the agreement. They claimed he then allocated the properties to his aides and cronies.

The alleged misappropriation happened in May 2015, the month Mr Kwankwaso left office as Kano State governor.

Success at last

In 2023, the EFCC after years of interrogating Mr Kwankwaso secured the final forfeiture of 324 properties misappropriated under his administration.

The properties were said to have been misappropriated by the Kano State Pension Fund Trustees during Mr Kwankwaso’s administration in 2015.

Inyang Ekwo, a judge at the Federal High Court, Abuja, gave the order of final forfeiture while ruling on a motion by the EFCC, seeking a final forfeiture of the properties which are “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities of Kano State Pension Fund Trustees”.

“The properties comprise 168 homes situated at Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam Bandirawo City, Kano; 122 houses at Sheikh Nasiru Kabara (Amana City), Kano and 38 houses at Sheikh Khalifa Ishaq Rabiu City, Kano.

”The 168 houses at Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam Bandirawo City are made up of 55 Units of 2-bedroom semi-detached houses; 51 Units of 3-bedroom houses; 7 Units of 3-bedroom converted; 17 Units of 3-bedroom Carport; 3 Units of 4-bedroom Duplex; 9 Units of 5-bedroom Duplex and 22 Units of 3-bedroom Green-roof”, the anti-graft agency said.

“The 122 houses at Sheikh Nasiru Kabara, Kano include 14 Units of 2-bedroom semi-detached houses; 62 Units of 2-bedroom semi-detached houses; 4 Units of 3-bedroom converted; 13 Units of 3-bedroom converted ; 3 Units of 3-bedroom detached houses; 11 Units of 3-bedroom detached houses, 3 Units of the 3-bedroom carport, 5 Units of 3-bedroom carport 2 Units of the 3-bedroom Green roof; 3 Units of the 4-bedroom carport and 2 Units of 4-bedroom Pergola.

“The 38 houses at Sheikh Khalifa Ishaq Rabiu City, Kano include 19 Units of 3-bedroom bungalows; 5 Units of 3 Green roofs; 6 Units of 4-bedroom Duplex, 2 Units of 4-bedroom BQ, I Units of 4-bedroom Duplex and 5 Units of 5-bedroom duplex,” the EFCC said.