The House of Representatives has accepted that members’ salaries were indeed deducted for the election of Monday Okpebholo, who was elected governor o
The House of Representatives has accepted that members’ salaries were indeed deducted for the election of Monday Okpebholo, who was elected governor of Edo State a few weeks ago.
The Deputy Spokesperson for the House, Philip Agbese, refuted claims of forced deductions from members’ salaries and allowances for the election, stressing that the caucus which carried out the deduction was chaired by Abia lawmaker, Ben Kalu.
Kalu represents Bende Federal Constituency in the 10th Assembly and is serving as a second timer.
Agbese, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, denied reports that the deductions were done forcefully for Okpebholo, who is a serving senator, and his running mate, Dennis Idahosa, a member of the House.
Agbese’s clarification followed reports that that ₦1.4m was deducted from the allowances of members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), with ₦1m used to fund Okpebholo’s election campaign in Edo.
According to the reports, the deductions which were reportedly forced on the APC members have been condemned by some aggrieved members and are poised for war with the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, who ordered the deductions.
Agbese however absolved the Speaker, dismissing the report noting that Abbas was not present at the meeting where the decision was made.
Rather, he said it was Ben Kalu who as chairman led the APC caucus to agree on the donations.
“The report is incorrect,” Agbese said.
“The Senate had already decided to support the then governorship candidate, now Governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo. We also found it appropriate to support the ticket because the running mate, now Deputy Governor-elect Dennis Idahosa, is one of us, a member of the House of Representatives.
“Nobody was compelled to give, contrary to the report. The speaker wasn’t even at the meeting. So, the claim that he unilaterally ordered deductions from lawmakers’ allowances without their knowledge is completely false,” he said.
While noting that the deductions were not done secretly, Agbese argued that, “If lawmakers were indeed unhappy or felt forced to contribute, they would have protested when it was first reported that the APC House caucus was making a donation to the campaign. Why raise concerns now?
“We had a quorum at the meeting, and the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu was appointed Chairman of the Fundraising Committee. I’ve gone to this length to assure Nigerians that everything was done in an orderly manner,” he added.
Recall the Edo election which was held on September 21 saw the election of Okpebholo, who 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Asue Ighodalo, of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 247,274 votes.
