Jonathan Nwokpor
To commemorate the payment of the backlog of pensions owed by the previous administration, members of the Concerned Abia Pensioners staged a thanksgiving ceremony in the church on Sunday.
Concerned Abia Pensioners chairman John Kalu led the thanksgiving at The Apostolic Church Nigeria, No. 55, Awolowo Street, Umuahia. The pensioners explained that the objective of the celebration was to express gratitude to God and to the numerous churches that prayed for God’s intervention during the years that they were not receiving their pensions.
John Kalu, 85, expressed gratitude to Abia State Governor Alex Otti for keeping his pledge during the campaign to pay back the pension arrears that the previous state administration had withheld from them. He pointed out that the church was ideal for rejoice over the good news.
He said: “We had a very big problem. Our problem was that they did not pay us our pensions; our members were dying in thousands because of illness and no money to go to hospital, no money to eat. We started to pray; we were fasting and praying. We went to churches for them to help us in prayers. The Apostolic Church was one of the churches we went to.
“So, this time, the Governor has given us what we wanted. He has paid us the arrears of pensions which the other government didn’t pay us, which we were crying for, he has paid it to us. We are grateful. That is why we said we should go back to The Apostolic Church to tell them that God has done what we requested.”
Apostle Bernard Ugbor, the Area Superintendent of The Apostolic Church Nigeria, Umuahia Area, who was receiving the pensioners at the church, praised them for remembering to come and give thanks to God.
He called the Governor a good leader and appreciated that he had the senior citizens’ best interests at heart.
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