House Denies Receiving N100 Million as Palliative

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The House of Representatives has denied reports that members of the Green  Chamber received N100 million as palliatives from the executive arm of government.

Spokesperson of the House, Akin Rotimi, in a statement yesterday said the clarification became imperative following the media reports  credited to the National Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Christopher Onyeka, who claimed that the Executive arm had given N100m to National Assembly members as palliatives.

He described the claim as baseless and devoid of any factual accuracy.

According to him, “Transparency and truth in public discourse are necessary for a functioning democracy. While we doubt that Mr. Onyeka was actually conveying the official position of the NLC on this claim, it is nonetheless important to correct such misinformation.”

Rotimi said the House considered it irresponsible and most unfortunate that Onyeka would misrepresent facts in a bid to lend credence to otherwise valid demands of the NLC, while seeking to denigrate the National Assembly, and inciting the public against the institution.

His words: “We state categorically that Mr. Onyeka lied in his claim that National Assembly members were given N100 million as palliatives.

“For the avoidance of doubt, at no time did Members of the House of Representatives receive any money from the Executive arm as palliatives. We, therefore, consider this statement as malicious, irresponsible and in bad faith.

“We consider it irresponsible and most unfortunate that Mr. Onyeka would misrepresent facts in a bid to lend credence to otherwise valid demands of the NLC, while seeking to denigrate the National Assembly, and inciting the public against the institution.”

To this end, the House demanded an immediate retraction of this “lie” and  a public apology from the Nigeria Labour Congress.