I’ll release details of Saraki, Dogara’s pay, says Sagay

* MASSOB hails Sani for disclosing senators’ pay

The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against
Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), says the N13m allowances being
received by senators is only a tip of the iceberg as Nigerians will
be shocked when he releases details of the allowances of the
principal officers of the National Assembly.

Sagay said this during an interview with our correspondent.

The PACAC chairman was responding to revelations by the lawmaker
representing Kaduna-Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, that
senators receive N700,000 monthly and a separate N13.5m as running
costs.

Sagay, who has for several years accused federal lawmakers of
receiving outrageous allowances, said principal officers of the
National Assembly, including the Senate President, Deputy Senate
President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and the majority and minority
leaders of both chambers, are receiving far more than what Sani
revealed.

The senior advocate said the polity might explode when he
released the details of their allowances.

He said, “There are many things the press doesn’t know yet. If
you come to know the allowances that the leadership of the two
houses are getting… My God! It will blow up the country. What is
the Senate President getting? It is not the ordinary N13m.

“What does he get as Senate President? What is the leader of the
House getting, what is the deputy leader of the House getting? What
is the Deputy Senate President getting? What are the minority
leaders getting in both houses? Go and find out. It is an explosive
stuff, I tell you. Eventually, I will come out with the figures. I
am working on them now. When I am ready, I will come out with
them.”

Sagay lambasted spokesman for the Senate, Senator Abdullahi
Sabi, for saying that the N13.5m allowances were already in the
public domain.

The PACAC chairman said it was hypocritical of the lawmakers to
have berated him last year when he released details of their
allowances.

He added that Sani’s revelation was at variance with the details
released by Saraki last year.

He added, “What they released then was their salaries which the
Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved for
them. What they are hiding now are the allowances they voted for
themselves.

“The salary details released was just about N700,000 but what
they voted for themselves is about 20 times that amount. That is
the whole point and they were hiding it.

“I came out with the figures last year and they wanted to cut
off my neck and now it has come out in the open and Sabi Abdullahi
is saying it is nothing new but you were denying it in the past.
So, they have a guilty conscience because they know what they are
doing is shameful.”

Meanwhile, the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign
State of Biafra on Sunday commended Sani for exposing the wages of
Nigerian senators.

In a statement by the MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu, the group
said providence would bless Sani for exposing his colleagues.

The Biafra agitators described other senators as “criminal
lions.”

The statement partly read, “MASSOB hails Senator Sani
representing Kaduna Central in exposing his fellow distinguished
criminal lions roaring in the National Assembly of the Nigerian
state.

“MASSOB sees the Nigerian parliament, mostly the senators, as
market men and women who always see the National Assembly as a
business market where they only make billions of monetary profit
without investments.

“The majority of these National Assembly businessmen and women
are so insensitive and shameless in their dealings with the people
of their senatorial districts.

“It is only in Nigeria that a senator will openly without shame
donate a gas cooker with frying pan or grinding machines and other
useless materials unbefitting of a country’s senator to the few
people of his senatorial constituents as an empowerments
incentives.

“Nigerian parliamentarians lack innovative empowerments in
education, healthcare, economy and technology. They have no
visions, intentions or programmes for the poor.”

The group added, “Most worrisome is that the majority of these
senators do not exist in the Senate chambers; they only exist
during election campaigns or ceremonial functions.

“Most of them are glorified laymen with no qualitative
educational background, a man without a good academic insight and
exposures as a senator can never be fruitful to his nation.”

* MASSOB hails Sani for disclosing senators’ pay

The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against
Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), says the N13m allowances being
received by senators is only a tip of the iceberg as Nigerians will
be shocked when he releases details of the allowances of the
principal officers of the National Assembly.

Sagay said this during an interview with our correspondent.

The PACAC chairman was responding to revelations by the lawmaker
representing Kaduna-Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, that
senators receive N700,000 monthly and a separate N13.5m as running
costs.

Sagay, who has for several years accused federal lawmakers of
receiving outrageous allowances, said principal officers of the
National Assembly, including the Senate President, Deputy Senate
President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and the majority and minority
leaders of both chambers, are receiving far more than what Sani
revealed.

The senior advocate said the polity might explode when he
released the details of their allowances.

He said, “There are many things the press doesn’t know yet. If
you come to know the allowances that the leadership of the two
houses are getting… My God! It will blow up the country. What is
the Senate President getting? It is not the ordinary N13m.

“What does he get as Senate President? What is the leader of the
House getting, what is the deputy leader of the House getting? What
is the Deputy Senate President getting? What are the minority
leaders getting in both houses? Go and find out. It is an explosive
stuff, I tell you. Eventually, I will come out with the figures. I
am working on them now. When I am ready, I will come out with
them.”

Sagay lambasted spokesman for the Senate, Senator Abdullahi
Sabi, for saying that the N13.5m allowances were already in the
public domain.

The PACAC chairman said it was hypocritical of the lawmakers to
have berated him last year when he released details of their
allowances.

He added that Sani’s revelation was at variance with the details
released by Saraki last year.

He added, “What they released then was their salaries which the
Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved for
them. What they are hiding now are the allowances they voted for
themselves.

“The salary details released was just about N700,000 but what
they voted for themselves is about 20 times that amount. That is
the whole point and they were hiding it.

“I came out with the figures last year and they wanted to cut
off my neck and now it has come out in the open and Sabi Abdullahi
is saying it is nothing new but you were denying it in the past.
So, they have a guilty conscience because they know what they are
doing is shameful.”

Meanwhile, the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign
State of Biafra on Sunday commended Sani for exposing the wages of
Nigerian senators.

In a statement by the MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu, the group
said providence would bless Sani for exposing his colleagues.

The Biafra agitators described other senators as “criminal
lions.”

The statement partly read, “MASSOB hails Senator Sani
representing Kaduna Central in exposing his fellow distinguished
criminal lions roaring in the National Assembly of the Nigerian
state.

“MASSOB sees the Nigerian parliament, mostly the senators, as
market men and women who always see the National Assembly as a
business market where they only make billions of monetary profit
without investments.

“The majority of these National Assembly businessmen and women
are so insensitive and shameless in their dealings with the people
of their senatorial districts.

“It is only in Nigeria that a senator will openly without shame
donate a gas cooker with frying pan or grinding machines and other
useless materials unbefitting of a country’s senator to the few
people of his senatorial constituents as an empowerments
incentives.

“Nigerian parliamentarians lack innovative empowerments in
education, healthcare, economy and technology. They have no
visions, intentions or programmes for the poor.”

The group added, “Most worrisome is that the majority of these
senators do not exist in the Senate chambers; they only exist
during election campaigns or ceremonial functions.

“Most of them are glorified laymen with no qualitative
educational background, a man without a good academic insight and
exposures as a senator can never be fruitful to his nation.”