N100m Palliative Claim: Senate Threatens Legal Action Against NLC

N100m Palliative Claim: Senate Threatens Legal Action Against NLC

The Senate on Thursday threatened to take legal action against the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the claim that lawmakers got N100 million each as a palliative from the federal government.

Christopher Onyeka, an aide to the NLC President Joe Ajaero, was reported to have said members of the National Assembly received over N100 million each as a palliative to cushion the effect of the petrol subsidy removal.

The Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, dismissed the claim, describing it as strange, ludicrous and unthinkable.

Adaramodu, in a statement on Thursday, said the claim was another “satanic ploy of a miserable gang of media and political dark angels to bring the Nigerian parliament into disrepute and pitch the legislators against the Nigerian public.”

“We believe that the public is aware that popular democracy is an anathema to some unpatriotic political mercenaries, hence their systemic blackmail of the parliament, which undoubtedly is the soul of democracy and sovereignty,” he added.

He urged the public, especially the Nigerian workers, to disregard “these unscrupulous pontiffs.”

He said, “The National Assembly shall not hesitate, henceforth to take constitutional and legal actions against these 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 would place national interest above partisan nihilistic outbursts.

“If the Congress wishes to serve as the conscience of Nigerian workers, it must purge itself of catalytic political voyages that can truncate our democracy. We believe that Nigerians see this new unscrupulous advocacy as a comedy to entertain only the unsuspecting.”