Oyo pensioners have told the governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), Bimbo Adekanmbi, that they do not want to go back to the pension hardship of earlier administrations.
He responded by promising to sustain and improve on current welfare arrangements, according to a statement from his campaign. The claims below are campaign and union assertions and have not been independently verified.
Adekanmbi’s pension pledge to Oyo pensioners
Adekanmbi spoke at an interactive session with retirees at the Pension House in Agbarigo, Ibadan. He said Governor Seyi Makinde “has raised the bar” and that he intends to maintain the current arrangement and improve on it. He also promised regular engagement with retirees so he gets first-hand information on their concerns.
He said paying workers and pensioners on time keeps money circulating in the state’s markets. He told the gathering that under his administration pensioners “will not suffer” and that all dues would be paid promptly. The statement is signed by Yinka Oladoyinbo, spokesperson of the Oyo State APM Governorship Campaign Council.
Why Oyo pensioners fear a return to “Egypt”
The NUP’s Oyo State secretary, Comrade Olusegun Abatan, said pensioners suffered for 16 years before Makinde took office. He cited late payments, ignored statutory increases and pensions as low as ₦350 to ₦1,000 a month. He credited the governor with a ₦25,000 minimum pension and said retirees do not want to return to unpaid pensions, part-payments or being tagged “dead but alive.”
Abatan also said the union’s roughly 50,000 members and their dependants have helped remove past administrations. He added that pensioners will back any candidate who factors their interests into his agenda.
Oyo pension payment: what public records show
Parts of the account are supported by earlier reporting. The NUP has said Makinde directed that the lowest-paid pensioner earn at least ₦25,000 monthly. A state government statement has said salaries have been paid on the 25th of every month since Makinde took office in 2019. The governor has also promised to clear pension arrears owed by past administrations by May 28, 2027.
The picture is not uniformly positive. In August, the NUP accused LAUTECH Teaching Hospital and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education of failing to implement the governor’s pension directive. The union also said inflation has eroded the value of the ₦25,000 minimum pension and that a review is inevitable. Reports differ on whether the ₦25,000 directive took effect in January 2025 or January 2026.
What the pledge means for the Oyo governorship race
Adekanmbi’s message fits his broader platform. He has pledged to consolidate the achievements of the Makinde administration if elected in 2027. With roughly 50,000 members and their dependants, pensioners are a sizeable voting bloc the union says it is ready to mobilise. Neither the APC nor other parties had publicly responded to the statement at the time of writing.
