Defaming double pay allegation levelled against Senator T Orji

Our attention has been drawn to a negative publication aimed at hoodwinking the public and defaming Senator T A Orji, Senator representing the Abia Central Senatorial District on page 41 of Daily Independent Newspaper of Monday, July 1, 2019. The said publication quoted the Deputy Director of SERAP, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare where he was urging the former governors now senators including Senator T A Orji to return the double pay received by them as pensions.

This issue was raised some time ago by a national daily and the office of Senator Orji through a press release took time to disclaim this allegation stating clearly that Senator T A Orji is not collecting any pension from Abia State Government. In the said publication, it was clearly stated that Senator Orji reached the apex of the Civil Service cadre as a Permanent Secretary and knows the implications and dire consequences of collecting pension while being remunerated as a Senator of the Fed Rep. of Nigeria.

One would have expected that an International NGO that once won the Wole Soyinka award with immense sources of information available to it, would have crosschecked their facts before publishing such defaming information. We by this medium are calling on SERAP and Kolawole to retract this information on a Nigerian daily and apologize to Senator T A Orji before a legal action is instituted against them.

Chief Eddie Onuzuruike - Media Adviser and Legislative Aide