Ben Murray -Bruce
THE lawmaker representing Bayelsa East Senatorial District, Senator Ben Murray Bruce, has promised to donate his wardrobe allowance to the unpaid workers in Osun State.
He made this known via his Twitter handle.
For about seven months now, workers in the Osun State civil service are yet to be paid their salaries.
But in a swift reaction, the Osun State government lampooned the lawmaker , saying he was playing to the gallery just as he said he (Murray-Bruce) was trivialising the issue.
The Senator said “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’ve not been paid in other states.”
He, however, called on his friends and followers to make contributions to alleviate the plight of the workers.
He said “I call on all my friends and followers on Twitter and Facebook to donate non perishable food items for these our brothers in need. As soon as my wardrobe allowance is paid, I will divide it into two. Half will be publicly given to the NLC Chairman Osun.”
“The other half will be publicly given to the head of widows association in my community of Aksasa”, he added.
He explained that “we are starting in Osun, but we will not end there. I will do as much to help workers who’ve not been paid in other states. As soon as my wardrobe allowance is paid, I will divide it into two. Half will be publicly given to the NLC Chairman Osun.
The other half will be publicly given to the head of widows association in my community of Akasa.,” he added while enjoining other Nigerians to donate to the workers in Osun and other states of the country, facing similar crisis.”
Murray-Bruce trivialising the issue — Osun govt
In a statement entitled: ‘Why is Senator Murray-Bruce mocking Nigerian workers?’, the Osun State government berated the lawmaker for attempting to trivialise the issue.
Director Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor Osogbo, Mr Semiu Okanlawon lamented that the legislator was joining the fray of politicians trivialising the issue in a “ridiculous manner.”
Okanlawon said “my attention has been drawn to a tweet by a member of the Upper chamber of the National Assembly Senator Ben Murray Bruce of the Peoples Democratic Party 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”, he said.
Describing the Senator’s gesture as saddening, he said “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.”
While he noted that the legislator was playing to the gallery, he said Murray-Bruce should not be a self serving philanthropist in the direction of Osun workers
He said: “Of all the states in the federation who are battling to pay salaries as a result of the precarious economic situation his party the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, threw Nigeria into why is it that it is Osun he wants to take his pay to? This is certainly playing to the gallery and nothing but a mockery in the faces of Nigerian workers and not only of Osun extraction.
Omisore lacks capacity for truth — Osun APC
Meantime, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state of Osun has described the allegations made by Senator Iyiola Omisore against the governor, Rauf Aregbesola, published in some national newspapers yesterday, as “worthless vituperation.”
According to the party, “the only path of honour left for the failed PDP governorship candidate in the last August 2014 election is to produce proof to authenticate his allegations, otherwise there will be credible reason to doubt Omisore.”
Responding to the allegations widely reported in otherwise reputable news outlets yesterday, the APC argued that “being a serial liar, Omisore is consistently demonstrating incapacity for speaking the truth.”