The House of Representatives has denied the allegations that each lawmaker collected N100 million palliatives from the Federal Government.
The National Assistant Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Christopher Onyeka, made the claims in a statement issued in Abuja.
However, reacting to it on Wednesday, the Rep spokeman Akin Rotimi described the allegation as baseless and demanded a public apology.
The statement read: “The House of Representatives notes with concern news reports across multiple newspaper, electronic, and online media, of a statement credited to the National Assistant General Secretary of NLC, Mr Christopher Onyeka.
“In the said statement, Mr Onyeka claimed that the executive arm had given N100m to National Assembly members as palliatives. This claim is baseless and devoid of any factual accuracy. 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.
First, we state categorically that Mr Onyeka lied in his claim that National Assembly members were given N100m 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.”
The House of Representatives expressed its disappointment in Onyeka’s statement and demanded an immediate retraction and public apology from NLC.
“Accordingly, the House of Representatives demands an immediate retraction of this lie and a public apology from the Nigeria Labour Congress. The NLC as a critical stakeholder in the development of Nigeria has a voice and it risks delegitimising that voice if it is found to include fables in its legitimate agitations.”
