It has been confirmed that the Nigerian Senators indeed received their “holiday token” allowance as directed by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The controversial directive which has incensed Nigerians and has dominated the social media was earlier denied by the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, Ireti Kingibe.
Kingibe said she had received only “statutory allowance” and she did “not know what” Akpabio was talking about.
Many Nigerians accused the lawmakers of putting their personal interests above the nation, saying that despite the prevailing harsh economy and rising poverty in Nigeria, they had allocated huge amounts to themselves as allowances among other benefits.
DAILY GIST recalls that Akpabio during the last plenary had directed that the clerk of the national assembly to send to each senator “holiday token for enjoyment.”
In a video that went viral on Wednesday, Akpabio was heard saying the clerk of the National Assembly has disbursed funds to all senators to enable them to enjoy their holiday.
He however said “I withdraw that statement” after his colleagues expressed their shock and frowned at it as it was exposing them to public ridicule.
Akpabio afterwards added that he had sent “prayers to your mailbox”, a revelation Senator Kingibe also denied noting that “I have not received any email.”
But in a screenshot of the credit alert a Senator shared with THE WHISTLER on Thursday afternoon showed that the 109 senators in the Nigerian upper house have received the alert.
In an alert which a senator from Ondo State (name withheld) forwarded, a credit alert of N2 million was seen.
The alert was received at exactly 11:44am on August 8, 2023.
The information on the alert show, “txn: credit Ac:2xx .97x Amount NGN:2,000,000.00
“Des: NFT SENATE OVE/NAT,” part of the alert showed.
Attempts to speak with the Senator proved abortive as his media aide did not respond when contacted via email.
Also, Senator Kingibe did not respond when contacted to verify if she has now received the new alert contrary to her earlier position.
