By Williams Adesoji
A prominent Nigerian social critic and human rights activist, Comrade Igbotako Nowinta has called on the Nigerian people to stop the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and his fellow senators of the National Assembly from enjoying illegal monthly allowances which they are currently drawing from the nation’s lean resources.
Comrade Nowinta, Executive – Director, Nigerian Good Governance Research Centre, who doubles as international conflict resolution expert, made the call in a press statement in Abuja on Sunday.
In the statement he titled: “N21 Million Monthly Running Cost For Senators Is A Demonstration Of Violence To Our National Conscience,” Nowinta lambasted the Nigerian leaders for their sheer insensibility and sense of irresponsibility to the plight of the Nigerian masses.
His words: “In a nation where impoverishment of about 200 million Nigerians has been institutionalized, Senator Godswil Akpabio and his fellow senators at the National Assembly still have the effrontery to be enjoying illegal monthly allowances.”
It would be recalled that Femi Falana, prominent Lagos lawyer, threatened recently to take legal action against the senators, for raising their monthly running cost from N14 million to N21 million naira.
Below is the full text of the press release:
“How do we stop a gang of unpatriotic and grossly insensitive politicians from further slapping us in our faces, it is by standing up now and asking them ferociously to stop withdrawing their illegal monthly allowances from our commonwealth?
“In a nation where impoverishment of about 200 million Nigerians has been institutionalized, Senator Godswil Akpabio and his fellow senators at the National Assembly still have the effrontery to be enjoying illegal monthly allowances”.
“It is outrageous and despicable that the senators of the National Assembly have turned themselves into treacherous gluttonous wolves in a country where the masses are facing strangulated economic crises. What drove these senators to jack up their monthly running cost from N14 million to N21 million naira without reckoning with the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission ( RMAFC)?”
“Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre sees the latest disgraceful attitudes and behaviors coming from the senators as doing real violence to our national conscience at a time like this. This is shocking and appalling!”.
“These unpatriotic lunatics have simply caused significant damage to the psyche of our people; they have further betrayed the trust and responsibility placed in their hands by Nigerian electorate; even when minimum wage for an average Nigerian worker is just N70 naira”.
“This is calling on Nigerians to take ardent vocal stance on this unfortunate development; we must be ready to demonstrate extraordinary courage by standing on the same page with Femi Falana and stop Senator Godswil Akpabio and his gang from enjoying their illegal monthly allowances. This nonsense must be enough trigger for our fury. In fiercely resisting this most brazen efforts to undermine our sensibility, we must be ready to mobilize a long campaign in this regard”.
