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
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/i-will-donate-my-allowance-to-osun-workers-murray-bruce/