The governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in Oyo State, Hon. Bimbo Adekanmbi, has assured pensioners in the state that he will not disappoint them if elected governor in 2027.
Adekanmbi gave the assurance on Monday during an interactive session with members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Oyo State Council, held at Agbarigo, Ibadan.
Adekanmbi who assured the pensioners of his commitment to their welfare, said his administration if elected, would consolidate on the achievements of Governor Seyi Makinde.
He promised to institutionalize periodic meetings with pensioners to directly engage them on their concerns.
“If somebody has done so much over the course of his two terms, the bar must not be dropped. The graph must be up and never flatten out or come down. The graph must continue to grow,” Adekanmbi said.
On the 2027 elections, the APM candidate urged pensioners to remain vigilant and protect their votes against electoral manipulation and hijacking, citing the Osun State governorship election as an example.
“Don’t just go out to vote and return home. You must be vigilant and ensure that your votes count. Protect your votes against hijackers. What happens after casting your ballot is equally important,” he said.
Adekanmbi added that his experience in government had given him firsthand knowledge of the state’s financial and administrative challenges.
“I have the firsthand information about the challenges of Oyo State. I know where the problems are, and I know the areas that require attention,” he said. In his remarks, the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Kayode Martins, urged the APM governorship candidate to make workers and pensioners welfare one of the cardinal objectives of his administration if elected.
Earlier in his welcome address, the State Secretary of the Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Comrade Olusegun Abatan, traced the history of pensioners’ plight in the state, saying life was brutish for them for 16 years before Governor Seyi Makinde came on board.
“Your Excellency, for 16 years before Engineer Seyi Makinde came on board, life had been short, brutish and frustrating for pensioners in Oyo State. Pensions were not paid as and when due, constitutional provisions of increasing pensions whenever salaries of workers were increased were flagrantly disobeyed, leading to our members earning pensions as low as N350 or in some cases N1,000 per month.
“It was Engineer Seyi Makinde that made N25,000 the minimum pension in Oyo State with effect from January 2025,” Abatan said.
He said because of the improvement in the lives of pensioners since Makinde came on board, it has become imperative to know the direction of any government that wants to succeed him.
“Because of the improvement in the lives of pensioners in Oyo State since Engineer Seyi Makinde came on board, it is imperative for us to know the direction of your Government, if it pleases God for you to succeed in the next year election.
“The saying on the lips of Oyo State pensioners, having enjoyed seven and a half years of unbroken peace, prompt payment of pensions and the clearing of unpaid gratuities left by past administrations, is that they don’t want to go back to ‘Egypt’. By this they mean they don’t want to go back to unpaid pensions and gratuities, payment of pensions in percentages and the insults of being tagged ‘dead but alive’,” he stated.
Abatan further declared that Oyo pensioners, with a population of about 50,000 plus their dependants, have the capacity to install and remove governments.
“I make bold to state that we have used our population of about 50,000 and our dependants to install and send packing past administrations. Oyo State Pensioners are ready to vote for any gubernatorial candidate who factors our interest into his agenda.
“Any invited gubernatorial candidate who refuses to honour our invitation will not be voted for by our members. It shows that such candidate has no programme for pensioners in his administration.
“Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Oyo State Council, is non-ethnic, non-political and non-religious organisation. Oyo State Pensioners will vote for personalities based on positive antecedents to our members not on party affiliations.” He stated
