Celestine Omehia’s controversial claim to pension benefits from the state government has been settled by a Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt.
The Rivers State House of Assembly and the Rivers State Government had demanded that Omehia return more than N696 million in pension and other benefits that had been given to him till his derecognition. However, the court rejected their request.
It was reported that the court held that proper interpretation of the governor and deputy governor pension and free benefits law prohibits Omehia from benefiting from the pension scheme as stipulated under the state’s pension law, even though it acknowledged that he had never held the office of governor of Rivers State.
In his ruling on Omehia’s lawsuit against the Rivers State Governor, the Attorney General of the State, the Speaker, and the State House of Assembly, Justice Daketima Kio declared that Omehia was not accountable for the mistakes made by the defendants in the lawsuit.
The court stressed that Omehia could not rightfully claim the money that was mistakenly provided to him because he never asked for recognition from the House of Assembly or the state government.
Justice Kio upheld the Supreme Court’s ruling that Omehia was a forger and said that he was not entitled to the governor and deputy governor pension statute or to the position of a former governor.
The court ordered that each party pay its own expenses and declined to award any party any costs.
Success Gibert, the attorney for the Rivers State Government and the House of Assembly, expressed happiness with the ruling’s favorable ruling.
He did, however, decline to comment on the decision of the claimant’s reimbursement of funds, saying instead that the government will handle the situation appropriately.
Counsel to Omehia declined to comment on the judgment.
