� Senators salaries cut by 60%
� It�s not David Mark�s fault -Aide
� N/A bureaucrats may escape sanctions

By CHRISTIAN ITA & JAMES OJO, Abuja
Sunday, October 7, 2007


Another flank has been opened in the brewing cold war between the Senate President, Senator David Mark, and some senators allegedly plotting to impeach him.

Sunday Sun authoritatively gathered that at the bottom of the disquiet in the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly is the slashing of senators salaries by a whooping 60%.

The Special Adviser (Media and Communication) to the Senate President, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan had on Wednesday, issued a statement alleging a plot to impeach Mark. While identifying a senator from the North-Central as the mastermind, Ologbondiya said the Senate President had it on good authority that "the aggrieved Senator has been holding secret meetings in Abuja, Jos and Makurdi trying to garner support."

A reliable source in the Senate disclosed that the Senator is trying to exploit the anger by senators over the slashing of their salaries to move in against the Senate President. It was gathered that senators were paid N400,000 in the month of September instead of the N1 million they have been pocketing monthly since the inauguration of the Senate in June.

From the N400,000, senators are also expected to pay their aides and domestic staff, a situation that has exposed many of them, particularly the new ones, to "hard times". Second term senators are, however, not feeling the pinch as they all have their homes, which was sold to them at the end of last dispensation.

Sunday Sun investigation revealed that after inauguration in June, each senator got N4 million, which many of them thought was their "entitlement" in lieu of accomodation pending when they would be given proper accomodation. Some of the senators, particularly the new ones who had to operate from hotels, have since exhausted the money on bills.

They had expected, following assurances that the administration was favourably disposed to the idea of reversing the sale of the Apo legislative quarters, that they would be given accomodation.
They, however, got the shock last week when they went to the banks to cash their salaries only to discover that all that the amount credited was a little over N400,000.

After making enquiries from the National Assembly management, they were informed to their chargrin that N600,000 was deducted and would continue to be deducted to off-set the N4 million they earlier received. Shocked beyond belief, the senators are angry that they were not told before hand that the N4 million they got in June was "a loan" and not an
allowance.
Sunday Sun gathered that it is that anger that the senator from North-Central is also exploiting to try to unseat Mark.

Besides holding clandestine meetings with some aggrieved senators, he reportedly sent text messages to his colleagues, blaming Mark for the development. In the text message, the Senator clearly laid the blame at the door-steps of the Senate President, claiming he (Mark) had not been pushing the issue of their "welfare" well with President Umaru Yar�Adua. But speaking with Sunday Sun on Friday, Ologbondiyan wondered how anybody could blame his principal over a matter not within his purview.

His words: "How can anybody blame the Senate President over such a matter? It is not the responsibility of the Senate President to determind how much a senator should earn. That responsibility lies with the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission. They allocate funds to the National Assembly. The management of the National Assembly would then determind how much each senator earns." Sunday Sun over the deductions and have vowed to exact their own pound of flesh.

As one of them (governor-turned senator) revealed to Sunday Sun, they intend to either delay the passage of the appropriation bill for next year or slash the allocation to the presidency "so that Aso Rock too will feel the pinch". Besides the slashing of their salaries, the other issues said to be raising adrenaline in the Senate include an alleged renovation of the official residence of the Senate President for a whooping N400 million. There is also the issue of alleged discrimination by the senate leadership against senators who voted against Mark during the election of
principal officers in appointment into committees.

But all of these were dismissed by the aide to Mark in the statement Wednesday as sheer falsehood. On the alleged renovation contract, Ologbondiyan had "challenged anyone with proof of such renovation or contract to come forward with evidence. For the avoidance of doubt, the last renovation of the Apo mansion was carried out by the authorities of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) administration since February 10, 2006. The records are verifiable."

On the appointment into committees, he said: "The appointment into committees was evenly distributed along zonal basis and in accordance with the standing rules of the Senate. The strength of the political parties and the political equations was also considered, besides the need to put round pegs in round holes."

Meanwhile, as the members of the House of Reps prepare to resume Tuesday and review the report of the Idoko-led panel, indications have emerged that members of the management of the National Assembly might go scot-free.
The 9-man panel, headed by Hon David Idoko, had not recommended punishments for acts of omission or commission by all parties to the award of the contracts. However, it observed that due process was not completely followed and that the renovation of the houses were not specifically captured in the 2007 budget.

Expectation was high that the management of the National Assembly, who guided the body of principal officers to approve and award the contracts, would be penalized for failures to point out any procedural breaches. But in its report, the panel was silent in recommending punishments on
the grounds that the terms of references were to examine the award of the contracts and not to make any recommendations.

Sunday Sun checks revealed that the management of the National Assembly might escape being punished even though members came to the venue of the panel to expose the rot in the system by singing discordant tunes. Members of the management team that testified before the panel were the Clerk of the National Assembly [CAN], Ibrahim Nasir Arab, Acting Clerk of the House, Niyi Ajiboye, Director of Estate and Works, Idris M Mahdi, Director of Legal services, M.A Sani Omolori, Director of Finance and Supplies, O Adelami, Secretary of Tenders Board, Mansur Jarkatar. For instance, in his own testimony, the Clerk of the National Assembly said that the contracts for the jobs were advertised, contrary to the account of the Secretary of the Tenders Board that there was no advertisement for the contracts because of time limitations.

Before the report of the Idoko committee was made public, it was gathered that some of the directors had already braced themselves for various punishments such as indictment, demotions, premature retirements or summary dismissal. But they were said to have heaved a sigh of relief when their attention was drawn to lapses in the constitution of the panel.

Said a former director in the office of the Head of Service: "To punish the civil servants in this kind of situation, due process, as laid down by Public service rules and Guidelines must be followed. After all, one of the findings of the panel was that due process was not followed completely in the award of the contracts. How can you punish them when they were not represented in the panel?" He noted that the panel could only recommend to the National Assembly Service Commission, or the Head of Service of the Federation for sanctions, if the panel's terms of reference had expressly stated so. When the CNA office was contacted, he was said to have traveled for Lesser Hajj, while Director of Legal services was not in office.

Sorry, this doesn't make any different. The senators do not depend on their salaries; they focus more on kick backs.