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Immediate past governor of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, paid himself a whopping N360 million from the state's pension funds while retirees were made to battle the consequences, his successor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, has alleged.
        The state House of Assembly recently repealed a law that gave the former governor the legal right to earn N10 million monthly after leaving office. Matawalle lamented that Yari paid himself the amount while leaving a backlog of pension and gratuity for local government workers and primary school teachers to the tune of N3 billion while the state government's retired civil servants are owed N3 billion. “What moral justification could be offered for such a Jumbo package for a select few when the social index has consistently indicated that the majority of our population lives in abject poverty?” The governor asked. Speaking on Wednesday, November 27, while assenting to the repealed law brought to Matawalle by the state's speaker, Nasiru Muazu Magarya, and others, the governor said Yari made the payment to himself just before leaving office.. Matawalle added that the former governor only paid selected permanent secretaries. While recalling how Yari sent him a letter demanding N10 million monthly as upkeep allowances, the governor said: “I called my deputy, the state assembly speaker and his deputy and asked them whether they need such mind-boggling allowances and they all answered in negative. "Then, we decided to repeal the law backing the payment and I have assented to it." The governor said with the repeal of the law, it would be difficult for his successors to come up with such in the state with the aim of causing further hardships on the people. "There is no reason whatsoever the state could afford to pay the past leaders a whopping sum of N702 million annually to the detriment of dying pensioners in the state,” Matawalle said.