TrackNews gathered that the alleged salary percentage deduction by the former majority leader amounted to millions of naira.
This occurred during the 7th Assembly between 2019 and 2023.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that following the alleged refusal of the lawmaker to honour the agreement reached with his private secretary to put a stop to the deduction from his monthly salary, Erijoh tendered his resignation.
The resignation letter signed by Enahoro Erijoh and sighted by SaharaReporters is titled ‘Resignation As Your Private Secretary/DOP’.
In the letter addressed to the lawmaker, Onwo, Erijoh accused him of tampering with his salary during the 7th Assembly. He noted that it was about to continue in the current Assembly.
The resignation letter which was copied to the Secretary to State Government (SSG), Chief of Staff to the Governor, and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Solomon Ogba, reads in part, “I wish to profoundly thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you over the past 5 years in the capacities as captioned.
“I however wish to resign my appointment due to our irreconcilable differences on my renumeration which you have failed to address over these years and has resulted in my inability to cater for my immediate family, especially in the present economic realities.
“Sir, you know that out of the N250k per month that I was paid all through the 7th Assembly (June 2019-May 2023), I remitted N130k to you monthly.
“At the inception of this dispensation, I sent the attached note of 21-06-2023 to you requesting that my salary be untampered with, if you will still need my services which you consented to.
“On the payment of the 9 months arrears from July 2023-March 2024, I am surprised that you are attempting to revisit our earlier agreement not to tamper with my monthly salary and that you can only accommodate an increment of my monthly stipend from the N120k/month all through the 7th Assembly to N150k/month in this current 8th Assembly, even in the face of the current economic hardship and realities. Sir, I consider not commensurate with my volume of work with you, thus this resignation.
“I am prayerfully very hopeful that others will be empowered with this my former position with you as I look forward to a more suitable appointment in the large political space. Please, accept my very warm rgds sir. God bless you sir.”
When contacted for clarification and comment over his leaked resignation letter, Erijoh said “On that my resignation letter, the man being talked about is my boss and I wouldn’t want to talk about whatever issue we have online.”
Onwo, who reacted through one of his aides, Ofrokor Pedro, however, denied the deduction allegation, saying, “I’m writing to you in respect to a message you sent to my boss, Hon Ferguson Onwo yesterday seeking clarification on his private secretary, Prince Enahoro Erijo’s resignation over alleged salary deduction of N130,000 from his monthly salary of N250,000.
“Hon Ferguson never deducted N130,000 from the account of his private secretary, rather the remittance from other statutory aides were sent to him (Prince Enahoro) to enable him pay salaries to the rest of the political aides to the honourable member whom he appointed from the different wards.
