Senate Paid Saraki’s Aide’s Wife N150,000/Month For Doing Nothing - Sahara Reporters

Since 2015, Abiola Aiyegbayo, wife of Bamikole Omisore, Special Adviser on International Relations to Senate President Bukola Saraki, has been receiving monthly salaries of N151,788 from the Senate without rendering any service to the National Assembly, documents obtained by SaharaReporters reveal.

The documents confirm the claims of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Center), a non-governmental organisation and non-partisan human rights and development league, which recently asked the United States Department of Justice to investigate the ghost worker scam by Omishore’s wife.

In a petition sent to the US Department, signed by Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, its Chairman, HEDA, relying on an April 22 publication by PUNCH, had written: “Documents submitted to the EFCC showed that Omishore, who has been working with Senator Saraki since 2015, allegedly listed his wife as a Grade Level 12 employee of the National Assembly, though she is confirmed to be a nurse in the United States.

“The petition, signed by Abba El-Mustapha on behalf of Youths United against Corruption in Nigeria, claimed that Omishore’s wife had been collecting salaries to the tune of N150,000 for nearly three years through her Guaranty Trust Bank account 0147896921 with the name ‘Abiola Aiyegbayo’.

“Documents made available to SUNDAY PUNCH showed that most of the salary payments were made on the same day, thereby arousing suspicion. For example, the salaries for January, with file number S0723 and February 2017 also with file number S0723, were paid on April 10, 2017.”

The original petition referenced by HEAD read in part: “Documents made available by a whistle-blower showed that Mr. Bamikole Omishore, one of the aides to Senate President Bukola Saraki, has made millions of Naira through the complex but criminal scheme

“Omishore registered his US-based wife, Abiola Omishore, on the payroll of the National Assembly, using her maiden name, Abiola Joy Aiyegbayo. Her social media accounts and even posts by her husband proved that she is not based in Nigeria.”

The petitioner was said to have further alleged that Omishore’s wife had an identity card showing she was an employee of the National Assembly, while all her profiles online never reflected that she had worked with the Assembly.

True to the claims by HEDA, documents obtained by SaharaReporters show that Saraki’s aide’s wife was registered on the legislative aides payroll of the Senate. January and February pay slips — samples of what went down in three years — show that she received a Consolidated Salary of 124,411.75 and a Peculiar Allowance of N27, 377, totaling a gross pay of N151,788.75. However, Net Pay stood at N138,550.19. The payments were made through Guarantee Trust Bank Area 3, Abuja, with Account Name Abiola Aiyegbayo and Account Number 0147896921.

Aiyegbayo, meanwhile, is a registered nurse in the US, where she lives. She has never worked at the National Assembly for one day.