Activist and Senator, Mr. Shehu Sani has explained why he disclosed how much he and his colleagues in Nigerian Senate receive monthly as running cost.
Sani, who represents Kaduna Central District in the Senate, had disclosed that each Senator gets N13.5m as running cost every month.
The lawmaker noted that this was in addition to the over N750,000 monthly consolidated salary and allowances of each member of the Senate.
In an interview with BBC, Sani said “I decided to burst it open. It was a moral issue.
“The National Assembly is one of the most non-transparent organs of government. It pricked my conscience and I decided to burst the bubble and open the National Assembly to public scrutiny.”
“If the expenses payment system was ended, then, parliament would only be attractive to people who contribute ideas,” he said.
Sheu Sanni is a defender of the Republic and the Public. He now separates himself from the horde of parliamentary entrepreneurs that presently afflict the Nation. N13.5m monthly expences cannot be justified under any condition in present day Nigeria. The National Assembly is unable to reform itself and now it has to prove that it is people-friendly. We appeal to all other Sannis in the National Assembly to come on the side of the people and sanity to organize and mobilize against the on-going extortion. They will sleep well thereafter and God will bless them.
I see a situation where Sani will soon be haunted by his colleagues in the senate, by first denying him chairmanship of juicy committees and then stopping him from making contributions on the floor of the senate. Saraki and his man Friday will bid their time and act accordingly. Sani arousing a sleeping monster!