Former Governor Of Abia Rejects SUV Gift

The Minister of Science and Technology and former Governor of Abia State, Ogbonnaya Onu, has rejected a Toyota SUV gift from the Ebonyi State Government.

According to Premium Times, in a letter to Governor Umahi, Onu stated that the Constitution excludes him from receiving such gifts.

He wrote, “It is important that I draw your attention to provision of Section 124(5) of the 1999 constitution as amended which states that:

“Provisions may be made a law of a House of Assembly for the provision of person to or in respect of a person who has held the office of a governor or deputy governor and was not removed from office as a result of impeachment and any pension granted by virtue of any provision made in pursuance of the subsection shall be a charge upon the consolidated revenue fund of the state.”

Onu then added, “Instructively, a law enacted by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly titled: Ebonyi State Special Offices Pensions and Related Matters Law 2007, section 3 defined a Governor as a ‘Civilian Governor of or from Ebonyi State of Nigeria’”.

“Rather curiously, four years later, the same House of Assembly enacted a law, Ebonyi State Special Offices Pensions and Related Matters Law (amendment) law 2011 wherein a governor was defined as ‘a civilian Governor of Ebonyi State of Nigeria.”

Onu said it was clear that he was the target of the change “in an apparent design to deny me of my due pension entitlement.”

“This is especially so in the circumstance where it is the duty of the state government to do so as a responsibility of the sharing of assets between Ebonyi and Abia states. You will recall that I was the first elected Governor of Abia state, in which a part later became a constituent part of Ebonyi State.”

The letter continued; “Accordingly, in view of the prevailing circumstance, I regret to inform you that I cannot accept the gift of a Lexus Sports Utility vehicle. I do so with a deep sense of responsibility and conscious of the important need to build a better Ebonyi State where respect for the rule of law and the peoples’ will as well as the pursuit of their happiness will remain sacred.”