Sufuyan Ojeifo
16 June 2008
Lagos — Controversy is brewing in the Senate over alleged payment of N25.3 million allowances for first and second quarters of this year to Senator Jibrin Usman Wowo who lost his seat in the April 5 re-run election into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Wowo (who is a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP) was defeated by Hon. Sidi Ali of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who has since replaced him (Wowo) in the Senate. But THISDAY gathered that Senator Ali has complained to the Senate leadership alleging that Wowo got allowances that were not due to him after he lost his seat as Senator representing the FCT.
Some bank transaction details (allowances for the first and second quarters as well as payroll sheet for January to March, 2008) already in circulation in the National Assembly showed the monies allegedly paid to Wowo.
While the United Bank for Africa (UBA) details of the allowances paid to him showed N15,169,696.67 for the first quarter of January to March, 2008, the Guaranty Trust Bank payroll monthly payroll for January, February and March, 2008 showed that he was paid N818,852, N616,212 and N586, 212 respectively.
It was learnt that Ali is mounting pressure on the Senate Leadership to get Wowo to make a refund of the money since he (Wowo) was no longer a Senator from the day the Court of Appeal nullified his election in February and ordered for a fresh election on April 5, 2008.
But, reacting to the allegations yesterday, Wowo said that it was not true that he was paid a cumulative allowance of N25.3 for the first and second quarters of the year by the Senate leadership. He, however, added that even if the sum of N15.1 in respect of the first quarter was paid into his account, he was still a member of the Senate at the time the money was paid for the quarter which ran from January to March, 2008.
He denied that a sum of N10.2 million was paid into his United Bank of Africa (UBA) account as allowance for the second quarter of April-June, 2008. According to him, "The first quarter allowance was paid into my account at the beginning of the quarter and my election was nullified by the Court of Appeal on February 15, 2008.
"The N15 million was just half of the allowances. I was qualified for that. I must also let you know that the UBA account is not my regular account and to that extent, I need to check to know what happened."It is the Senate leadership that will know what has happened and until I check, I cannot confirm anything in respect of the second quarter allocation. But as I speak to you, there is nothing to confirm that I got allowances for the second quarter."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
