Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola
The Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf
Aregbesola, and the Senator representing Bayelsa-East senatorial
district, Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce clashed on Thursday over Aregbesola’s
inability to pay workers’ salaries.
The faceoff started after Murray-Bruce, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, said on his official Twitter
handle that he would donate his wardrobe allowance of over N500,000 to
the unpaid workers in Osun State and widows in his home state of
Bayelsa.
Murray-Bruce, who is the Chairman of the
Silverbird Group, said he would give the money to the Chairman of the
Nigeria Labour Congress in Osun State who would distribute the money to
the unpaid workers.
He wrote, “I, Ben Murray-Bruce, will not
sit down idly while my fellow citizens die because salaries have not
been paid. As a first step, I am immediately donating my wardrobe
allowance to unpaid workers in Osun State and widows in my constituency.
“We
are starting in Osun but we will not end there. I will do as much to
help workers who have not been paid in other states. I call on all my
friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter to donate non-perishable food items for these our brothers in need.
“As soon as my wardrobe allowance is
paid, half will be publicly given to the NLC chairman in Osun State
while the other half will be given to the head of widows association in
my community of Akasa.”
However, Aregbesola described Murray-Bruce’s statement as the height of hypocrisy.
The governor, in a statement by the
Director. Bureau of Communication and Strategy Office, Mr. Semiu
Okanlawon, said it was unfortunate that the senator could trivialise
such a sensitive issue.
He wondered why it was Osun State – out
of the over 15 states that had not paid salaries – that Murray-Bruce
wanted to donate his money to.
The statement read, “My attention has
been drawn to a tweet by a member of upper chamber of the National
Assembly, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, of the PDP from Bayelsa, saying he
will not reject the alleged hefty pay for members of the National
Assembly but collect it and donate to Osun workers.
“It is saddening and tragic that Mr.
Murray-Bruce whom many had accorded a lot of respect is too early in the
day joining the fray of politicisation and trivialising the salary
issue affecting more than half of the states of the federation in this
ridiculous manner.
“While Nigerians are in hot debate over
the alleged jumbo pay and the mood of the country, Murray-Bruce seems to
have turned the plight of Nigerian workers to a thing of entertainment.
Of all the states in the federation who are battling to pay salaries as
a result of the precarious economic situation his party, the PDP, threw
Nigeria, why is it that it is Osun he wants to take his pay to?”
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