By Abbamobi -Eku Onyekachi
Abuja
Senators have donated N74m to support the victims of the devastating flood that ravaged Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, last week.
According to press release from his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Midashir Tuesday, the Deputy Senate President Barau I. Jibrin, disclosed this on behalf of Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio, when he led some senators to Maiduguri on Tuesday.
Senator Barau said each of the 108 senators would donate N500,000 (N54m), while he personally announced the donation of N10m. The Northern Senators Forum also donated N10, totalling N74m.
The Senators, who were received by the Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum, included the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua, Chairman of the Southern Senators Forum, Senators Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru, Ikra Aliyu Bilbis (Zamfara Central), Onawo Mohammed Ogoshi (Nasarawa South) and Sadiq Suleiman Umar (Kwara North).
Others were Senators Diket Plang (Plateau Central), Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North-West), Pam Mwadkon Dachungyang (Plateau North), Mohammed Tahir Monguno (Borno North) and Kaka Shehu Lawan (Borno Central).
Commiserating with the Borno State Government and the entire people of the state over the devastating flood, Barau said: “Your Excellency, we are here to register our condolences and commiserate with you and the entire state over the ugly flood incident in this beautiful Borno last week. Whatever touches Borno has touched the entire country. This is why I’m here with some of my colleagues, even though the President of the Senate was here yesterday (Monday) representing the Senate as a whole.
“But it’s our tradition, normally in an occurrence such as this, even if the father or a leader came to register his condolences, that doesn’t stop those that are under him to go individually or collectively and commiserate with the victims. We commiserate with you, and we pray that may Allah grant those who lost their lives Jannatul Firdaus. May Allah SWT quicken the recovery of the injured persons, and may He make those who lost their valuables regain them as soon as possible.
“Yesterday, when the President of the Senate came, he did not tell you what we intended to donate. The situation of the victims profoundly touches us. After our meeting yesterday, we agreed to donate the sum of N54,000,000 (Fifty Four Million Naira). Each senator is donating N500,000, which will be N54m. Personally, I am donating the sum of N10 million. I pray that this flood will not occur again in Borno State and the entire country.”
The senators also paid a condolence visit to Senator Baba Kaka Garbai, who represented Borno Central in the Eighth Senate over the demise of his mother last week.
