THE Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hon Mukhtar Aliyu Betara has confirmed receipt of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) from an unnamed source but insisted it was not for the endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration of State of Emergency in Rivers State.
Hon Betara, while speaking with a journalist, insisted that the fund was ‘Sallah Gesture,’
Investigative journalist Jaafar Jaafar disclosed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that Betara reached out to clarify that the $5,000 given to lawmakers was merely a “Sallah Gesture” and not an inducement.
“The chairman of the House Committee on FCT, Mukhtar Aliyu Betara, has clarified to me that he only shared $5,000 to each member of his committee as a ‘Sallah Gesture’ not an inducement to support emergency rule in Rivers State. According to him, he maintains the tradition – like Santa Claus – every year. As we say in Hausa, not thigh but hind leg,” Jaafar posted
Betara clarified that members of the House of Representatives only received $5,000 as Sallah gifts, emphasizing that the money was not a bribe but part of a long-standing tradition within the National Assembly. He did not disclose the source of the funds but maintained that the gesture was unrelated to the political crisis in Rivers State.
Jafaar further quoted Betara as saying, “The chairman of the House Committee on FCT, Mukhtar Aliyu Betara, has clarified to me that he only shared $5,000 to each member of his committee as a ‘Sallah Gesture’ not an inducement to support emergency rule in Rivers State.”
According to Betara, this practice is an annual tradition akin to Santa Claus’s generosity, reinforcing that it had no political motivations. Despite these explanations, the controversy surrounding the financial distributions continues to generate public debate.
Eighteen-Eleven Media