…says ‘all 360 legislators must also be lobbied to accept bill’
A member of the House of Representatives from Jigawa State, Ibrahim Auyo, has alleged that lawmakers pay between N1 million and N3 million to present bills, motions, and petitions on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Auyo, who represents Hadejia/Auyo/Kafin Hausa Federal Constituency of Jigawa State and a member of the All Progressives Congress, made the allegation at a meeting with members of his constituency.
The lawmaker, in a video of the meeting, which has since gone viral, spoke in Hausa while responding to criticism over his record of bill sponsorship.
According to him, “Since I was elected as a member in 2015, no individual has given me a bill to pass, either from Auyo, Hadejia, or Kafin Hausa. They are just pretending.
“And also, even the bills and petitions are paid for. You have to pay from N3 million, N2 million, or N1 million to present it.
“And after you present the bill, you must follow up by lobbying the whole 360 members of the House to accept the bill.”
He however said he was open to receiving proposals from the constituency, provided they were properly channeled.
He added, “For the bills, I give each community the chance to present theirs. They should sit with their community leaders, write down their needs, and bring them to me in Auyo.
“Even if I am not in Auyo and I am in Abuja, they should delegate two or three people from the LGA to meet my team so we can confirm it is from the constituency and see if I can address it or not.
“We have done this before they started giving us such requests, so why can’t we do it now when they actually give them to us?
“I have my representatives—they should go through them. If they do so, I can first review it; if I can do it myself, I will. If it is a bill, I can also present it.”
Auyo also said it’s not true that he had refused to help unemployed members of his constituency to secure jobs.
He said, “That is not true. Whoever says I didn’t help our youths is lying. Those I helped know themselves, and I can’t satisfy all.
“Even God that creates us [did not make us equal]. Look at your five fingers; they are not the same, so you can’t satisfy all.
“I do distribute my things [empowerment] myself, and 80 percent out of 100 percent is for youths, I swear to almighty Allah.
“My first motorcycle and car distribution was distributed to the youths. No single elderly person benefited. Just recently, during the governor’s empowerment in Auyo LGA, all the beneficiaries were youths.”
The lawmaker accused some young beneficiaries of selling off the items given to empower them.
“You bought [an empowerment item] at N300,000; they sell it for N150,000 immediately after collecting it,” he said.
Auyo appealed to his constituents to continue to work with him until the end of his current tenure in 2027, warning against any personal attacks on leaders.
He further stated, “I urge people to work collectively as a team, to submit their requests to me or even through others. In fact, it is me now, and by God’s grace, until 2027, it will still be me.
“Insulting leaders for personal reasons is wrong. Some people, if not for politics, are too small to insult you.
“My advice to the youth is this: when you insult someone’s father today, tomorrow someone will insult your own father. When you insult someone, you are insulting your own father—even if he is in his grave.”
