Lagos lawmakers seek to join ‘big boys’ club’

Like former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly and his deputy are seeking to join the club of former public office holders who will enjoy bountiful benefits on retirement from office.

The House is planning to introduce a bill seeking guaranteed lifetime allowances for the speaker and deputy speaker. The bill, it was learnt, proposes to grant both the speaker and the deputy, pensions that amount to 100 per cent of their annual basic salary for life, after their tenure expires.

The bill also aims to provide both officers with one car and one residential house each at any location of their choice in Lagos as well as security, plus free medical cover for them and their families.

The bill is seeking to amend the state’s Public Office Holder Law of 2007 pushed through by Tinubu as governor, which now provides those benefits to past governors and their deputies.

The lawmakers now want to extend the largesse to themselves, and the amendment seeks to insert the words “and includes the Speaker (and) the Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly” in the amendment.

However, in a swift reaction, the Speaker, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, described the news as a lie cooked up by fifth columnists.

Spokesperson for the Speaker, Mr. Rotimi Adebayo, described the news as the handiwork of detractors, and that the documents showing the details of the purported bill were fake.

“There is no truth about that news. I read it online and it is just the handiwork of fifth columnists,” he said.

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