Salary Scandal- APC Chairman Defends Saraki

– Kwara state APC chairman, Ishola Balogun-Fulani said the Senate president, Bukola Saraki was only receiving pension and not salary from the state government

– He was reacting to allegations that Saraki was collecting monthly salary from the state government after he left office four years ago

– He said governors and deputies of other states of the federation are also enjoying the retirement pension

Ishola Balogun-Fulani, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, has reacted to the allegation that Bukola Saraki, the Senate president was still receiving monthly salary from the state government after he left office as governor in 2011.

Bukola Saraki at the CCT during his trial on Wednesday, April 6.

Speaking on Thursday, April 7, to newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital, Balogun-Fulani said Saraki was only drawing the pension constitutionally approved for him and his erstwhile deputy, Daily Trust reports.

According to him, he anchored the bill on the approval of pension and gratuity for former governors and their deputies in the state, as the as the majority leader of the sixth legislature.

The APC chairman noted that the bill went through legislative debate and public hearing before it was passed into law.

The former lawmaker stated that the initiation and eventual passage of the bill followed the recommendation of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC) on pension and gratuity for former governors and their deputies.

He said: “The payment of these entitlements is not peculiar to Kwara State, it is applicable to other states of the federation.

“In most states, both the former governors and their deputies are enjoying the retirement pension and gratuity as applicable to Saraki and his deputy in Kwara State.”

The Code of Conduct Tribunal is trying Saraki for corruption charges brought against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau.

On Wednesday, April 5, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission testified informed the tribunal that Saraki kept collecting salary from Kwara government after he left office in 2011 and had been elected senator.

In a swift reaction, the state government denied the claim, saying they only paid the Senate president his pension. The state government said the last amount it paid Saraki as salary was N291,474.00 meant for May, 2011, his last month in office.