Lagos and Abuja — For 21 states with pension laws stipulating post-office benefits running into billions of naira for their former governors and deputies, it was a sigh of relief wednesday as the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to recover all funds paid as pension to erstwhile state chief executives, who are also serving in the National Assembly or as ministers.
The court, presided over by Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, while delivering judgment in a suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), seeking an order of mandamus to compel the Attorney General of the Federation to file action to challenge states' pension laws for former governors and recover public funds collected by them in the public interest, also ordered the AGF to challenge the legality of states' pension laws permitting former governors and other ex-public officials to collect such pensions.
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