Five pensioners have reportedly slumped during a protest in Imo State yesterday over backlog of unpaid pensions and gratuities.

The pensioners who took to the streets of Owerri, Imo State capital, comprised of both men and women who were led by the State Chairman, Pensioners Intervention Committee, Mr. Iyke Ohaneje.

One of the victims, Mrs. Maggy Onuoha who was revived at the Government House roundabout said that she retired as a Director on Grade Level 14. She also lamented how her late husband Mr. Eugene Onuoha, who was a pensioner, died while struggling to get his pay but never succeeded in 2016.

The protesters who claimed that the state government has been deceiving the general public that the retirees have paid, stated that no more than 20 percent of the pensioners were paid in order to divide the rank of pensioners in the state.

According to the Chairman, this protest is the third which they were forced to embark on in order to compel the State Governor, Hope Uzodimma to pay them their pensions. He said, “Uzodimma is playing politics with our lives. Government is owing us a total of 45 months in arrears of pension. But we ask the government to pay us five months arrears, accumulated since March 2020.”

He stated that the government had alleged them as ghost pensioners which according to him instigated their protest. In his words, “Government has accused us of being ghost pensioners, but we have risen from the grave to tell the government that we are not ghosts.”

However, no government official was available to address the tired protesters, even as the Commissioner of Police, Isaac Akinmoyede, appealed for dialogue with the government again.