BY FOLASHADE KEHINDE
NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State for the move to repeal the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension Law 2007), which provides for payment of pension and other entitlements to former Governors and their Deputies.
Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos State, said Sanwo-Olu had taken a bold step that all APC loyalists should support.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, the APC leader also congratulated the governor over the 2021 ‘Budget of Rekindled Hope’, describing it as audacious and enterprising.
“Congratulations to Governor Sanwo-Olu over the 2021 budget which he appropriately christened ‘Budget of Rekindled Hope’. This audacious and enterprising budget will empower our people and begin to rebuild Lagos State,” Tinubu tweeted.
“In particular, I would also like to commend the governor for the plan to commence the repeal of the pension law giving pension packages to former governors and their deputies. This is a bold and courageous move by Mr. Governor and I wholeheartedly support him. I encourage all APC loyalists to do the same,” he added.
Tinubu has also been a beneficiary of the soon to be repealed law, having reportedly enjoyed entitlements, ranging from houses in choice areas in Lagos and Abuja, in addition to life pension, among others.
Because he had signed the Law before leaving office as Governor, there had been insinuations that Sanwo-Olu might be on a collision course with Tinubu.
“His tweets supporting the move was a smart move to counter this assumption,” a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, who spoke to our correspondent in confidence, argued.
The Point had reported that Sanwo-Olu announced this major decision while presenting the state’s 2021 budget to the State Assembly on Tuesday.
He said the move was in a bid to keep the cost of governance low and to signal selflessness in public service.
“Mr. Speaker and Honourable Members of the House, in light of keeping the costs of governance low and to signal selflessness in public service, we will be sending a draft executive bill to the House for the repeal of the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension Law 2007), which provides for payment of pension and other entitlements to former Governors and their Deputies,” Sanwo-Olu stated.
