BAUCHI State retired primary school teacher Ahmadu Azumi has threatened to divorce all of his wives if the state government does not pay him all his retirement benefits before the end of November.
Ahmadu Bello Dan Azumi, who worked for Ningi Local Education Authority, retired in 2016 on grade level 07 step 12. He has since been paid N300,000 earlier this year as part payment of his gratuity but said he wanted his entitlements in full to settle the huge debts he has incurred since retiring.
According to the retired teacher, who said his aged mother stopped him from committing suicide, he is owed N1.49m in gratuity and pension arrears. He threatened that, should the government refused to settle him the money in full, he will not only divorce his wives but also return the money so far paid to him into the public coffers.
According to Mr Azumi, life has become tough after retirement, especially when debts continued to stockpile. He debunked claims in some quarters that he is suffering from a mental illness and has even written to a human rights organisation in Bauchi to intervene in the case
Confirming the case, the permanent secretary of the Bauchi State Local Government Pension Board said that Ahamdu had sent a letter to a human rights organisation in Bauchi, which in turn formally wrote to the board. He added that the board is currently working on a reply to the human rights organisation.
A board spokesman added, however, that Mr Azumi, should not have been paid a dime, because they are currently only settling the entitlements of those staff who retired in 2011. Apparently, as of February this year at the end of the tenure of former governor Mohammed Abubakar, the total amount of retirement benefits owed retired state and local government workers in Bauchi State was over N16bn
