Nigerian Civil War veterans in Imo State have accused the former Special Adviser to the Imo State Governor on Pension Reform, Dr Celestine Izunobi of defrauding them of their money in the process of compiling their names for onward movement to Abuja.
But the man in question, Dr Izunobi has told Trumpeta that the “Old Soldiers” are only trying to destroy his name when he was helping them.
In a Press release yesterday in Owerri, the Soldiers in a statement signed by Major MC Igwe (rtd), Major Shedrach Ihetu (rtd) and others catalogued their ordeal in the hands of Izunobi.
They said that after the Federal Government had decided to pay Civil War veterans their pensions, they were told to submit their particulars to their various state Governments for documentation.
The “Old Soldiers” approached Gov Okorocha who directed that they should take their plight to his Special Adviser on Pension, Dr Izunobi who will solve it for them.
Major Igwe and co said they approached Izunobi who said they should register their names with three thousand naira (N3,000), which the veterans said they did. And they were four hundred in number.
However, when they learnt that their colleagues in other states registered with N1,000 only, they complained to the Governor, who asked that they should be refunded their N2,000 each immediately. They met Izunobi who promised to carryout the Governor’s directive.
“We believed Dr Izunobi, the Governor’s Special Adviser on Pension Reform, each time he assured us of a refund of our money. But with the dissolution of the entire expanded Executive Cabinet by the Governor on Monday 22nd July 2013, we learnt that the Former SA is about to leave the country” the old Pensioners wrote.
“This is our reason for going public through the press so that Government is made aware of our predicament” they said.
But when contacted by Trumpeta, Dr Celestine Izunobi invited this Newspaper to his office so that he can deal with documents. Asked to confirm or not that his office collected N3,000 each from four hundred veterans, he said Major Igwe has not been fair to him, as he Izunobi is not owing them, even as he has been using his own personal money to help the veterans.
Dr Celestine Izunobi who insisted on meeting this Newspaper said he was at Concorde Hotel Area. When Trumpeta went to the spot it met a man who described himself as Mr Oyibo Dike and claimed he is Dr Izunobi’s Special Assistant.
Dike told Trumpeta that his Boss has no hand in the veteran’s predicaments, even as he did not collect a kobo from them.
However, he said the trouble was from two staff of the office, who over-registered the veterans, after the Governor had said the registration should stop.
Dike said the sum of N280,000 has since been refunded to Major Igwe and his people, while the staff (Ayo and Ann) have been sacked, even as investigation is still going on what happened to the remaining money. Mr Dike however appealed that the story should not be published until after the investigation.
