Zamfara PDP assembly member laments non-payment of allowances

The only Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker in Zamfara State House of Assembly, Hon. Salisu Usman Zurmi, has lamented that the House has not been paying his allowances and entitlements since he refused to defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Usman said though his salary had remained untouched, his allowances have since been stopped, unlike other lawmakers in the House.

In an exclusive interview with newsmen at his Gusau residence, the lawmaker, who represents Zurmi west constituency, said that he had been facing segregation in the House ever since he refused to defect to the APC.

According to him, he had complained to the clerk of the House severely but he keeps on directing him to the Speaker of the House, Hon. Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya.

“My colleagues have easily forgotten that we all came to the House on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through the Supreme Court, only to make it compulsory that every body must defect to the APC,” he lamented.

“I will never leave the PDP because of any intimidation. Even though I am the only PDP member in the House, nobody can force me against my decision,” he said.

Commenting on his next political agenda, the lawmaker explained that he contested for the PDP primary election into the House of Representatives to represent Shinkafi/ Zurmi Federal Constituency but failed.

Zurmi said that he had written to the national headquarters of the party complaining of irregularities in the party’s primary election that denied him the ticket.

“I am an old member of PDP and has refused to decamp to the ruling APC with the Governor. Now both the government and the party are not treating me well,” he stated.

He expressed dissatisfaction that the masses are no longer given the power to choose their leaders, saying that candidates were being impose on the electorates by the powers that be.

“How then can democracy thrive in Nigeria? To the best of my knowledge, democracy is the government of the people for the people and by the people,” he said.

Speaking further, Hon. Zurmi said that seven out of the 23 lawmakers in the House that joined forces against him were denied the chance of purchasing their nomination forms by the State chapter of the APC.