A legislative aide, Hassan Abiodun, attached to the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun, has died.
The aide reportedly died of complications resulting from a ruptured appendix. It was the second of such deaths in the last one year.
Abiodun was said to need about N165,000 for urgent medical intervention but was unable to get it because the management of the National Assembly owed him a month’s salary.
The management of the National Assembly is responsible for paying the salaries of legislative aides, though they are attached to lawmakers.
Following the death of Abiodun, his colleagues protested loudly at the lobby of the National Assembly on Tuesday in Abuja, with some of them carried placards with inscriptions such as ‘NASS, please pay our entitlement’, ‘No salaries’, ‘No DTA for two years’, and ‘This injustice must stop now’.
One of the legislative aides, Allen Chongo, while mourning Abiodun’s passing, berated the management of the legislature for delaying the payment of their entitlements.
Chongo said, “He actually had a ruptured appendix because of the lack of funds to go to the hospital.
“He was actually waiting for salaries to be paid for him to go to the hospital.
“The problem is with the management; I think it is a deliberate policy to make us suffer and make sure they thwart our efforts.”
Lasun’s office reportedly claimed it did not know about the aide’s health situation as he reported for work a day before he passed on.
“It was after he died that they tried to contact the office, requesting for assistance to convey the body home,” one official said.
Lasun’s Chief Press Secretary, Wole Oladimeji, described the incident as ‘very unfortunate and painful’.
Oladimeji, however, stated that the issue of salaries was a function of bureaucracy and not the lawmakers’ fault.
He said, “The sudden death of Mr Hassan Abiodun, a legislative aide in the office of the Deputy Speaker, is unfortunate.
“The Office of the Deputy Speaker, however, expresses condolence to the family of the departed soul, especially his wife. It is an unfortunate incident and we pray that such will never occur again.
“It is equally wrong to begin to link his death to the non-payment of salary from the office of the Deputy Speaker.”
The protesting aides, most of whom were dressed in black, pasted Abiodun’s obituary posters within the National Assembly Complex.
In a communiqué signed by their representatives, John Sambo (House of Representatives), and Lawson Oviasogie (Senate) titled, ‘The Shabby Welfare Conditions of Legislative Aides in the 8th National Assembly’, the aides expressed their grievances with the management of the legislature.
The aides, who addressed a press conference, said they had no option but to bring their alleged ‘consistent and vile treatment’ to the public.
The communiqué read in part, “We are here today with heavy hearts to mourn the untimely and unfortunate death of one of our colleagues, Hassan Abiodun (ltalo). Even as we mourn, we see clearly that his death could have been averted.
“Hassan Abiodun died on Saturday, June 10, 2017, while waiting for his salary to operate his appendicitis. While he hoped, his condition degenerated and the appendix ruptured. Hassan is a victim of a flawed and unjust system. This press conference is, therefore, to avoid future occurrence and also to draw your attention to our working conditions as aides in the National Assembly.”
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had earlier sent his Deputy Chief of Staff, Gbenga Makanjuola, to address the protesters.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, Sanni Onogu, later told journalists that Saraki had summoned the National Assembly management to a meeting on the matter.
He said, “I don’t really think it is a brouhaha but what I can say is that the Senate President, in response to the protest, has summoned the management of the National Assembly with the aim of resolving all the issues the legislative aides raised this morning.”