James Ogunnaike
A retired judge of the Ogun State High Court, Justice Hezekiah Solanke, has dragged the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, to court over alleged non-payment of his monthly pensions and gratuity running into several millions of naira.
In the suit filed at the Ibadan Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of Ogun State was also joined as a defendant.
The suit, with number NICN/AB/01/2019, filed since February, has been listed to be heard on Wednesday, this week.
Our correspondent gathered that Solanke, who was employed into the state judiciary in 1992, voluntarily retired from service in 2017 at the age of 62.
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However, the former judge has been having issues with the payment of his pension and gratuity, prompting him to file a court action after alleged repeated breaches and unjustified delay by the state government.
In an amended statement of facts deposed to by his counsel, Deji Enisenyin Esq., the claimant said he ought to be paid monthly entitlement of the sum of N1,312,133:00, including rent and responsibility allowance from the state government.
He explained that the monthly sum included N661,738 payment by National Judicial Council, N500,000 responsibility allowance from the Ogun State Government, and N150,395 basic on rent.
While the money has not been paid, the former judge also lamented that his gratuity of N47,236,788 was not paid, adding that the gratuity was erroneously calculated on 220 percent instead of 300 percent of his annual basic salary.
Justice Solanke also averred that the sum of N5,414,220 being his furniture allowance every four years had not been paid.
According to him, the development has made him unable to attend to his health challenges and to meet up with various family commitments.
The retired judge, therefore, sought an order of the court directing the defendants to pay N10,497,064 owed him as pension from June 1, 2017, to January 31, 2018.
He also sought an order directing the defendants to pay him N1,185,152 being pension owed from May 4, 2017, to May 31, 2017.
Justice Solanke is further seeking an order to enforce payment of his N500,000 responsibility allowance from February 2018 as well as N150,000 accommodation allowance from December 2018 till the judgment is delivered.
The former judge also demanded an order of the court to ensure payment of N47,236,788 gratuity due to him.
He also prayed the court to grant him N15million as general damages for failure by the defendants to pay him a pension for a period of eight months (June 1, 2017, to January 31, 2018) without any justification and his gratuity three years after his retirement.
