A former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has attacked the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio over the fixing of the allowance of federal lawmakers outside of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, RMFAC.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 elections noted in a statement on Wednesday signed by his Media adviser; Mazi Paul Ibe, Abubakar.
He said it was insensitive for the Akpabio led National Assembly, NASS, to award themselves such humongous salaries and emolument when Nigerians are hungry, poor, and insecure.
He thanked a Kano State Senator, Sumaila Kawu for disclosing that his take home pay apart from N1 million salary is N21 million monthly. He said this vindicated the position of former President Olusegun Obasanjo that the National Assembly was fixing its own salaries and allowances in contravention of the laws of Nigeria.
While expressing the hope that Akpabio would not suspend Kawu like he did to Senator Abdul Ningi, or strip him of his position, as was done to former Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, for speaking out on the controversial issue, the former Vice President said “the disclosure by the Kano State senator not only confirms what Obasanjo said, it also puts a lie to the official response of the Senate that it does not fix its own salaries and allowances”.
READ ALSO : I get N21m monthly as take home, says Kano lawmaker
“In an institution populated with lackeys with no balls to hold the reckless executive to account, Senator Sumaila’s courageous act is worthy of commendation. It is, however, ironic that the NASS which is saddled with the task of making laws for the good governance of Nigeria, is the one that is breaking the law and undermining RMFAC, which is the commission that is constitutionally empowered to fix salaries and allowances of public officials, including members of the NASS.
“It is the responsibility of the RMFAC to man up and implement the law as it relates to fixing the salaries and allowances of public officials. Akpabio and his ‘chop(ping)’ gang can now see why the hungry and justifiably angry Nigerians took to the streets for 10 days on the #EndBackGovernanceProtest to #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria.
“And for the Dele Alakes of this world, who has stepped up the propaganda machinery of the President Bola Tinubu administration, the ‘Movement’ he alluded to were not focused on forcing a change of government, but to sack the hunger in their stomachs caused by the trial-and-error policies of this administration,” the statement read.
Recall that Senator Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila, the lawmaker representing Kano South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, said each senator gets N21 million monthly. The New Nigeria People’s Party’s lawmaker, in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, said the official pay of N1 million fixed by RMAFC drops to around N600,000 after deductions but there are other allowances that take their total pay to N21 million per month.
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