Senate denies NLC’s claim of N100m palliative for lawmakers, says allegation ludicrous

The upper chamber of the National Assembly, the Senate, on Thursday refuted a claim by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) that N100 million was given to each member of the assembly as a palliative to cushion the effect of the removal of petrol subsidy.

The upper legislative chamber rejected the claim a day after the House of Representatives debunked the allegation.

The Assistant Secretary-General of the NLC, Christopher Onyeka, on Tuesday alleged that members of the National Assembly received over N100 million each from the federal government.

But in a statement on Thursday, Spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, said the allegation is “ludicrous and unthinkable”.

Adaramodu added that the accusation was a plan to bring the National Assembly to disrepute.

The Senate spokesperson said the attack on the National Assembly was by “unpatriotic political mercenaries” who are against democracy.

“There is no N100 million for a legislator anywhere, from which budget is this coming from.

“The National Assembly shall not hesitate, henceforth to take constitutional and legal actions against irreverent merchants of rumours and ill wills against legislators.

“The National Assembly should not be taken as a political scapegoat. We don’t expect anything less from the NLC leadership, we only opined that they will place national interest above partisan nihilistic outbursts.

“If the congress wishes to serve as the conscience of Nigerian workers, it must purge itself of political comments that can truncate our democracy”, the Senate spokesperson admonished.