EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, the Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly (NASS), has disclosed how he spent the salary he earned as a member of the House of Representatives on his constituents.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Senator Bamidele, who was re-elected to the 10th NASS, made the disclosure in an exclusive interview with Echoes of Grace magazine, a publication of the Anglican Youth Fellowship (AYF) of Basilica of Grace (BOG), Abuja.
Speaking in the interview, Bamidele, who represented Ekiti Central Federal Constituency I in the 7th NASS, disclosed that the salaries he received as a member of the House of Representatives were dedicated to the less privileged in his constituency.
He said an escrow account was opened into which the salaries were paid into by the NASS and that a fund management committee, which comprised some traditional rulers, community leaders, youth leaders and women leaders, was set up by him.
“Every 6 months, the committee would meet to determine what to do with the funds that had accrued in the last 6 months,” Senator Bamidele said.
Speaking in the interview with Echoes of Grace magazine, which was launched on Sunday as part of activities to mark BOG AYF youth week, Bamidele further disclosed how President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu made him leave his job in the United States to serve in his cabinet when he was Governor of Lagos State.
The Ekiti Senator narrated how though he was not an indigene of Lagos State, he found favour in the State.
Bamidele narrates: “I was born in Ekiti State, not Lagos State but I served in the cabinet of Lagos State for 11 and half years as Commissioner under two Governors.
“I served 7 and half years under His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is the President-elect and 4 years under His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, as Commissioner for Information and Strategy.
“When His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed me as Commissioner in Lagos State, he did not know who my parents were. All he knew was that he had an idea of the kind of people he wanted in his cabinet, the kind of team he wanted to put together and while people were lobbying to be appointed commissioners, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was putting pressure on me to resign from my job in the United States to come and serve with him in Lagos.
“At that time, I was working at the Harvard University law school immigration clinic where we were providing legal services to low-income immigrants and refugees and people who could not afford to hire private attorneys. It was a dream job for me as a young man, newly licenced as a New York attorney and working with Harvard professors and some of the best brains in the world and 7 immigrant communities.
“It was not anything I was going to leave in a hurry but Asiwaju, having been elected Governor of Lagos State said: “I need you to come and work with me in Lagos, to contribute to my youth development programme”.
“So, eventually I left that job to come to Lagos. Not being a Lagos native and having the opportunity to serve at the highest level as a cabinet member for 11 and half years under two Governors, was something that could only happen if people found integrity in you, especially when you are not a native of that community”.
The Ekiti Senator went further to say: “I was in the 7th Assembly and in the 9th Assembly. I was not in the 8th Assembly because I ran for Governorship in Ekiti State. So, I did not contest to come back to the House of Representatives.
“I ran for Governorship in 2014 and it did not quite work because out of 18 candidates, I came third. So, four years later, I contested election to come to the Senate, which was the 9th Senate and I have now been re-elected to the 10th Senate.
“When I was in the House of Representatives my salaries were actually dedicated to the less privileged in my constituency. I opened an escrow account into which my salary was being paid by the National Assembly and I set up a fund management committee which was comprised of some of the traditional rulers, community leaders, youth leaders and women leaders; every 6 months the committee would meet to determine what to do with the funds that had accrued in the last 6 months”.