On the heels of reports that it distributed several cars to its members, Nigeria’s House of Representatives has denied distributing cars to 360 lawmakers representing constituencies in the country even as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, the House of Representatives noted that it was aware of a newspaper report insinuating that it is distributing official vehicles for the 360 members of the House.
“It has come to the attention of the House that a newspaper report had insinuated that the Green Chamber is distributing official vehicles for the 360 members of the House at this critical moment that the country is battling to contain #Covid-19 pandemic.”
The House of Representative, therefore, urged Nigerians to disregard the report describing it as a mischief that has been taken too far.
“Just yesterday, the same paper on its back page, claimed that the house “closed shop and went on holiday” three weeks ago, a clear falsehood,” the statement pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Punch newspaper had reported that the lawmakers were already taking delivery of 360 exotic cars at a period when the country struggles against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Punch, some of the cars were spotted at different parking lots within the National Assembly Complex, on Thursday.
The Chairman of the Committee on House Services, Mr Wale Raji, who confirmed delivery of the cars, however, declined to respond to further enquiries.
Some lawmakers who were contacted on Thursday pointed out that they were yet to receive vehicles delivered in “the first batch.”
Giving a breakdown of how the vehicles are shared, a member of the House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said, the 400 saloon cars would be allocated to each of the 360 members and some top management staff, Chiefs of Staff to the (two) presiding officers as well as some of their special advisers and assistants.
“I was told 100 have already arrived and they are sharing them to new members who are not chairmen and deputy chairmen (of committees). The next batch will be for returning (ranking) members who are neither chairmen nor deputy chairmen. The last batch will go to ranking member with appointments,” the source revealed.
Now that we have shared both sides of the story with you, whose version are you going with – the version reported in the media or the version put forward by the House of Representatives? Kindly share your thoughts with us in the comment section.