The Nigerian Senate has reacted to allegation of its members receiving N20m as COVID-19 relief.
The allegation was made by the executive director of projects at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Cairo Ojougboh in an interview with Vanguard.
He was quoted saying;
“In the national assembly, each of the senators got N20 million, while the house of representatives members got N15 million for COVID-19 from the national assembly.”
However spokesman of the senate, Senator Ajibola Basiru countered the allegation in a statement released on Tuesday September 1. He further asked Ojougboh to provide evidence to back up his claim or retract it.
The statement read;
“The senate views with grave concern a statement credited to Dr Cairo Ojougboh, the Executive Director, Projects of the NDDC who alleged that National Assembly members received varying sums of money as COVID – 19 palliative. The senate hereby disclaims the allegation in its entirety.
“The Senate categorically denies that any Senator collected the sum of N20 million.
“The Senate challenges Dr Ojougboh to publicly provide evidence of his claim and list the names of the Senators he allegedly gave the alleged sum. Failure to provide evidence of his claim, the Senate hereby demands immediate retraction and public apology from Dr Cairo Ojougboh.”
