See why this Benue Reps member won’t draw salaries for 4 years

By Yemi Itodo

As lawmakers settle down for the legislative business, Hon. Francis Ottah Agbo, member representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo federal constituency of Benue state, has reiterated his commitment to channeling his four years salaries to the empowerment of widows and orphans in the area.

To this end, Agbo said he had inaugurated an 11-man committee, which cuts across the 3 local government areas that make up the federal constituency, to map out modalities for the disbursements.

Speaking with the delegation of National Assembly Benue Journalists Forum (NABEJOF) on Thursday, Hon. Agbo also said the 9th National Assembly under the leadership of Senator Ahmad Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila was in a safe hand.

The lawmaker, who was a Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state, also posited the need to sponsor a Bill to truly define who a Journalist is.

“I have said this repeatedly that, for four years, I have dedicated my salaries as a member of the House of Representatives to the services of the orphans, widows, the less privileged and the vulnerable in the society.

“I do not intend to draw a dime from my salaries. I have set up a committee, we are going to be disbursing the funds every 6 months, so the beneficiaries will use the money to take care of themselves”, he said.

The lawmaker also said he would be organising periodic town hall meetings to brief his constituents on his legislative exploits, while giving them the opportunity to also know how much he earns monthly, saying, ” they deserve to know”.

He said he had already begun distribution of hybrid fortified cassava stems to the farmers in his constituency, to enabled them cultivate improved species of cassava this season and beyond.

On the leadership crisis brewing in the lower chamber, Agbo said the selection of the minority leadership of the House was carefully done in accordance with order 7 rule 8 of the standing law of the House of Representatives, “which is a derivative of section 60 of the 1999 constitution, as amended”.

He argued that the emergence of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu as the Minority Leader and others was made possible with the majority of the members of the minority parties in the parliament, calling on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his party, to kindly rescind its suspension of Elumelu and 6 others.

Agbo promised to sponsor Bills that will make the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) truly independent, as well as strengthening of the internal democracy of various political parties.

He believed that, “when INEC is truly independent and elections conducted according to the rules, numbers of petitions at various election tribunals would be drastically reduced in 2023”.

As a Journalist and former Editor with many national dailies, Agbo also vowed to sponsor a Bill seeking to define the qualification of a Journalist, in a way as to checking quackery and minimising the menace of fake news.

Earlier, leaders of the delegation, Mr. Solomon Ayado and Comrade Yemi Itodo, said they were on the familiarisation tour to pledge the readiness of the group to work with Benue lawmakers in making their voices at the National Assembly heard, both at the national level and back in Benue state.