A widow has petitioned the Acting Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to help her stave off imminent eviction from the police quarters where she is living with her five children. The petitioner is the widow of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Henry Ugiagbe. Ugiagbe was said to have died in active service.
The widow, who was desperate to ensure she and her children are not thrown out of the quarters, has sought the intervention of Festus Keyamo’s Chambers. The case was handed over to Terfa Mark Anata and Gloria Albert-Ekpe. In a petition to Suleiman, the counsel said: “Until his death, Supol Henry Ugiagbe with AP/ No. 37829 was serving at B Department (Transport), Force Headquarters Annex, Lagos State, as a driver.
He enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force in 1980. “He, however, died of cardiac arrest at Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State on February 1, 2009,
where he was taken for medical attention whilst on official duty, conveying some newly acquired police vehicles from Lagos to Abuja. “However, since his death, the process of getting his pension by his widow and children has been fraught with several seemingly insurmountable hurdles.
The file of the deceased was first missing for a couple of years and when it finally surfaced, it has gone through a lengthy process between the police and Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited.” According to them, while the issue of the pension was being sorted out, the children of the deceased dropped out of school because of their inability to pay their fees. “They have nowhere to pack to, because the deceased pension has not been paid to enable them afford accommodation outside the barracks.
“It is in the midst of this suffering that some of your overzealous officers have given our clients an ultimatum to move out of Block 2, Flat 12, Queens Barracks, Apapa, Lagos State, or be thrown out forcefully on or before the end of August 2014. “On June 1, 2014, they were served with a purported notice of ejection by the Provost Marshal Office, Force Headquarters Annex, Lagos to vacate the said apartment as same has already being allocated to two police officers in the person of one Inspector Francisca Joseph and Inspector Josiah Joseph who are currently jostling to wrestle possession from the deceased family.
“This is not without the several pleas and explanations proffered to the officers giving the reasons for the delay in moving out of the said apartment which obviously is as a result of the administrative bottlenecks and attendant delays and corruption that normally characterise the payment of entitlements and gratuities of retired and deceased police officers,” the lawyers added.
No comments:
Post a Comment