Federal House of Assembly members elected on the platform of the Labour Party will be collecting the N160m official Sport Utility Vehicles, disregarding the advice of the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure.
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Abure in a statement released on Tuesday, 17 Oct., condemned the N160m car to be given to Lawmakers, and urged the party’s members in the National Assembly to kick against this unnecessary wastage of resources in line with the ideology of the party which is social justice and equal opportunity for all.
The party chairman went further to say that Nigerians will hold the lawmakers responsible if they fail to live above board or give proper account of the electoral investment reposed in them.
LP lawmakers however, has indicated that they would be disregarding the party chairman’s advice.
The lawmaker representing Delta Aniocha North and South, Ngozi Okolie, stated that Abure’s demands were unrealistic, mainly since he had not provided them with alternatives to carry out their job.
She argued that the SUVs were necessary to aid their jobs as lawmakers, especially in regards to their oversight functions. Okolie went further to state that having one official vehicle as federal lawmakers wasn’t frivolous but a necessity.
Okolie also noted that Nigerians are quick to attack lawmakers over such things, while politicians at the state level get more benefits than federal lawmakers. She further stated that purchasing those vehicles was cheaper than hiring one every time they needed to go on an oversight.
Another lawmaker, Stainless Nwodo representing Igbo Etiti and Uzo-Uwani constituencies in Enugu State commended President Bola Tinubu for approving such vehicles for lawmakers.
In his argument, Nwodo stated that the SUVs were meant for each constituency and not for personal use by the members. He further stated that they needed SUVs to navigate the bad roads in their constituencies when delivering benefits to their constituents.
He questioned Abure’s criticism, asking if he had given them any vehicles to do their jobs or provided alternatives.
He argued further that attributing the reason for not purchasing the vehicles to economic hardship was GZ blackmail. He then concluded by saying that he would take the SUV and use it to deliver dividends to his constituents.
The lawmaker added, “I don’t want to believe the party’s chairman said so because did he give us any vehicle to do our jobs?
“Attributing his reason to economic hardship is pure blackmail. In the first instance, the vehicle is for each constituency, not the personal vehicle for the members.
“Also, we need these SUVs to ply the bad roads in our constituencies when we need to visit them and deliver goodies to them. This is why the Speaker and the Senate President decided that SUVs are better to visit our constituencies.
“My stance is that I will take the SUV and use it to deliver dividends to my constituents.”
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
