- Lawmaker says ‘It was Sallah gift’
Law teacher and an ex-chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof. Chidi Odinkalu has expressed his disapproval over the release of Rivers State’s withheld allocation, alleging that National assembly members were paid to grant a smooth passage to the Emergency Rule in Rivers State.
Odinkalu in a statement through his official X asserted this allegation and connected the disbursement of the monies to the designation of a single administrator.
Legal experts have deemed the suspension to violate the constitution.
Meanwhile, Mukhtar Betara, the chairman of the House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory has denied reports that lawmakers of the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives received $15,000 and $10,000 respectively to approve the declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State.
Jafaar Jafaar, an investigative journalists in a post on X said the lawmaker denied that any member of the National Assembly was given money – in foreign currency – to support the State of Emergency proclamation made by President Bola Tinubu.
Betara, however, said lawmakers of the House of Representatives only received $5,000 as Sallah gifts and not as bribes or inducement to support the president’s decision over the political crisis that rocked Rivers State.
Although there was no mention of where the $5,000 as Sallah gift came from, Betara said the gesture was a long-standing tradition within the National Assembly and had no connection with the State of Emergency proclamation in Rivers.
Jafaar wrote on X, “The chairman of the House Committee on FCT, Mukhtar Aliyu Betara, has clarified to me that he only shared $5,000 to each member of his committee as a ‘Sallah Gesture’ not an inducement to support emergency rule in Rivers State.
” According to him, he maintains the tradition – like Santa Claus – every year. As we say in Hausa, not thigh but hind leg,” the journalist posted.
Odinkalu raised the additional point that the allocation was abruptly made available despite a Supreme Court order that stated state allocations should only be provided when democratic administration is in place.
“What if the withheld @riversstategov allocation was unlocked in order to use it to finance the purchase the votes of @nassnigeria behind the State of Emergency, sir?” Odinkalu wrote.
His remarks follow claims that legislators in Rivers State got $10,000 to back President Bola Tinubu’s proclamation of a state of emergency.
According to many, the decision was decided by voice vote rather than the physical vote required by the constitution, which would have required a two-thirds majority.
Responding to Odinkalu’s statement, many Nigerians took to social media to voice their disapproval of the National Assembly’s decision to approve the emergency declaration without following proper procedures and to demand an investigation into Odinkalu’s allegations.
