A backlash follows Akpabio’s remarks about senators receiving a “holiday allowance.”

Following the revelation made by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, that senators have been given money to enable them to enjoy their vacation, Nigerians have taken to social media in order to criticize Akpabio.

In the video that went viral on Wednesday morning, Akpabio can be heard saying that the National Assembly Clerk has distributed funds to all senators so that they can enjoy their break.

“A token has been sent to each of our various accounts by the clerk of the national assembly in order to make it possible for all of us to take pleasure in our vacations,” you might say.

A short time after Akpabio made this statement, and after deliberating with some of his colleagues, Akpabio withdrew his statement, saying instead that “prayers have been sent to the mailboxes of respective senators.”

That is a statement that I am retracting. Prayers have been delivered to each of your mailboxes by the President of the Senate so that you can relax and enjoy the holiday. May God bless your travels and bring you home safely.

Since then, citizens of Nigeria have taken to social media to criticize Senator Akpabio and the leadership of the country.

In response, a member of the online community by the name of Uyi Samuel tweeted, “They keep sharing money while Nigerians are suffering; this is an act of wickedness.”

“We do not have leaders; rather, we have politicians,” said Bashiru Akanbi. The sooner we admit that these individuals are nothing more than leeches and parasites on this privileged nation, the greater the likelihood that we will be able to make progress.

Ernest Rutherford also posted the following on Twitter: “The most annoying part is that these bunch of thieves just sit down in the hall doing nothing, year in and year out, and still share tax payer’s money at every given opportunity.”

Kassandra Ugochukwu tweeted, “The era of ‘Ghana Must Go bags’ are over, the APC era is for tokens in their bank accounts or emails… [T]he APC era is for tokens in their bank accounts or emails… It should come as no surprise that they no longer fight on the floor of the house, and none of them brings in thugs or steals the mace and takes it to his village…It’s all been done with paper or rubber stamps.”

In a piece that he penned, Rotimi Ebenezer said, “Nigerian politicians and corruption were just 5 and 6. When he realized he was still being broadcast on national television, he decided to change it. May God continue to bless Nigeria.

IAmGtland also reacted, tweeting that the behavior in the Senate house was “disgraceful,” describing it as “rowdy and unorganized.”

Taymee also posted the following on her Twitter account: “No worries, we deserve all the despair and suffering until we get sense by force..the electorate is more than the elected yet the elected eat better than the electorate… “Nigeria is beyond belief!”

An additional user of Twitter who simply goes by the name Peace on the social networking app tweeted the following: “Just look at this shameless Nigerian senators. People are so strapped for cash that they can’t even afford to turn on a generator from seven to ten at night. It’s a shame.

In another tweet, the smiling judge said, “Absurd, it’s a pity we’re in such a dilemma.”