Another Senator contradicts RMAFC, even after Senate denial of huge salary
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“When I was in the Senate, cumulatively, all the allowances were N14.4 million per month. You have a wardrobe allowance, a vehicle allowance, and other allowances put together that were N14.4 million, including the N1 million salary.
“It is about N29 million now” – Abbo
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Former Senator Ishaku Abbo – a radical member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who opposed the Muslim/Muslim ticket of President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima during the campaign last year – has disclosed that the current salary and allowances of his old colleagues now amount to N29 million.
“When I was in the Senate, cumulatively, all the allowances were N14.4 million per month. You have a wardrobe allowance, a vehicle allowance, and other allowances put together that were N14.4 million, including the N1 million salary.
“It is about N29 million now,” he said.
That N29 million is less than the N21 million current Senator Kawu Sumaila (NNPP, Kano South) divulged last week but close to the N30 million calculated and published by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) earlier this year.
However, N29 million is light years away from the N1,063,860 that Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Chairman Muhammed Shehu claimed on August 12 was the total salary and allowances Senators earn per month.
“My monthly salary is less than N1 million. After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over N600,000 …. Given the increase effected, in the Senate, each Senator gets N21 million every month as running cost,” Sumaila told BBC Hausa on August 16.
Senate spokesman Yemi Adaramodu countered Sumaila’s claim the following day.
“For the umpteenth time, the Senate is compelled to respond to obsolete allegations of phantom salaries and personal emoluments spuriously credited to Senators monthly,” Adaramodu said in a statement.
“The Revenue Mobilisation Fiscal Allocation Commission, the agency of government that fixes political officials’ salaries and allowances, has duly disclosed the monthly personal take-home of Senators.
“However, all arms of government and their personnel – governors, ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Directors-General, state commissioners, and even boards and parastatals, including local government councils – run their activities with running costs, and the National Assembly is no exception.
“The funds referred to by Senator Kawu Sumaila are neither his salary nor personal allowance.
“These funds are allocated for the daily operation of senators’ offices and other statutory officials. They also provide for constituency office staff, oversight functions, and community engagements.
“These funds are not static; they are provided for in the annual budget and must be retired with proof of genuine expenditure. They are not personal allowances or salaries for legislators.
“The National Assembly receives about 1% of the federal budget and has never exceeded this, even in times of widespread financial constraints.
“The Nigerian Senate is an Assembly of accomplished professionals, administrators, and industry leaders, who are motivated by patriotic zeal, not by financial gain.”
I became poorer after becoming a Senator, says Abbo
Abbo – who represented Adamawa North in the current Senate until a court sacked him in October 2023 – disclosed on Arise TV on August 18 that his salary and allowances as a Senator amounted to N14.4 million.
Said he: “N29 million looks big on paper. I’m saying this as an honest man. I’m not trying to support the National Assembly, and I’ve been a member of that vilified institution for five years. I am not standing with them, but I’ll bear the facts on the table.”
Abbo expressed his personal struggles and how he became poorer after quitting his business to become a Senator.
“I had to leave the company I founded, in which I was the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, to go into governance when I won the election.
“I had to start subsiding my life because the money that was allocated to my office was absolutely nothing considering the demand and challenges faced by my own constituents on a daily basis.
“I had a case of just one person I took to the hospital; I spent N14 million on one person.
“And every month, from all over Adamawa State and other states, my office was besieged with people looking for help.
“I had to start calling some state Governors to help me with cases that are being brought from their states into my office.”
Abbo alleged some Governors corner up N1 billion per month.
“From N14 million, I was paying for people’s scholarships, subsiding people’s expenses while a state Governor in this country is going home with over N700 million security vote every month, some go home with N1 billion to do other security issues.
“I am poorer, much poorer as a man when I became a politician than I was before I became a politician.”
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