Third Republic Lawmakers Demand Unpaid Salaries, Claims

Members of the House of Representatives in the aborted Third Republic have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address the challenges affecting lawmakers in the Third Assembly, especially the payment of their outstanding claims and salaries.

The former lawmakers also called on Tinubu who is equally a member of the 1992/1993 session of the National Assembly and their other colleagues in other positions of authority to look into other problems affecting them.

The ex-parliamentarians made these requests during an interface and award presentation to the member representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State, Hon. Fred Agbedi in Abuja yesterday.

The leader of the delegation, Hon. Basil Okafor, said Agbedi who is a member of the Third Assembly has been supportive of his former colleagues and called on others in their set to emulate his gesture that earned him their honour.

“I want to let you people know that the Third Republic House of Representatives is the oldest for now. It is the oldest member of the House of Reps still existing. And we are not only existing in person, we are also existing in spirit. Now, the current president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the great Asiwaju, who himself is an octopus in battle has fought from 1992 till date to make an input and now he is the president of this country.

“We have a lot of problems ourselves that we now think that having a president who is one of us, having members of House of Reps and multiple senators now who Fred Agbedi represents, we think that some of these our problems, we have problems with our health system, we also have problems with our claims and salaries that were not paid at that time.

“We have problems that we are seeking the face of this government to see how they can help us resolve it. And we know that having Fred there, he would be able to help us coordinate his fellow members to champion this cause and the press should also help us in any way you can to highlight some of these problems that are facing us.

“We are the old boys of this current government. From when we were removed till now, we are very much around. The current rules they are using in the House now were rules that we made and put in place. What they are now doing is amending it to accommodate their current situations. So we have made an input and we have stamped our imprint in politics in this country,” he said.

Also, a member of the delegation, Hon. Hajiya Amina decried the plight of the veteran lawmakers and called on their contemporaries including President Tinubu to amicably address the challenges confronting them.

She said: “Many of us have died as I said. Some are half dead, like me here. I am also half dead because my engine is knocked. I am just trying to make life easy for myself. We are calling on the government, Asiwaju the president and head of state, is one of us. He is our product of the Third republic House of Representatives and he is a friend of Fred Agbedi. We are all together.

In his response, Hon. Agbedi called on President Tinubu to ensure that all the entitlements of the affected former lawmakers are given to them and appreciate his colleagues for the honour.