Nigerian Senate
The seats of two deceased lawmakers were declared vacant by the Senate on Wednesday.
The deceased senators are Mustapha Bukar of Katsina North senatorial district who died on April 4, 2018, and Ali Wakili of Bauchi South senatorial district who died on March 17, 2018.
However, the seat of Senator Joshua Dariye (APC-Plateau Central) was not declared vacant despite the fact that he has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by a Federal High Court for fraud.
Reacting to the development, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), stated that it would be wrong if Dariye was still receiving allowances while in prison.
Sagay added, “I don’t think he should be receiving salaries because this would be a major infraction of our laws. Someone who is in prison for fraud which is one of the reasons for disqualifying anyone from contesting should not be receiving salary unless someone is extremely reckless in the National Assembly.”