Written by Lanre Adewole and Idowu Samuel, Abuja
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, began investigation into the alleged N9 billion scam rocking the House of Representatives, moments after the pro-probe members submitted a petition and documents on the alleged scam to it.
Commission’s boss, Mrs. Farida Waziri, reportedly set up a six-man panel to investigate the allegations contained in the lawmakers’ petition and the panel, according to sources within the commission, had commenced work.
The panel, Nigerian Tribune learnt, will start by analysing issues raised in the petition in relation to the evidence contained in the documents made available by the group of lawmakers known as ‘The Progressives’.
While receiving the petition from the lawmakers, Waziri noted that the House of Representatives was fast becoming a permanent habitation for corruption scandals and had decided to investigate the fresh allegations of corruption against the leadership of Speaker Dimeji Bankole, even if the group did not file in any petition.
She added that the leadership of the House would be thoroughly investigated and those found culpable would be brought to justice, while saying that the lower chamber of the National Assembly would be sanitised.
The Progressives, led by Honourable Dino Melaye, are accusing the Speaker of misappropriating the N9 billion capital vote for the House for 2008.
Said Waziri: “It is my pleasure to meet you; you are welcome to the EFCC’s headquarters. I am delighted to have distinguished Honourable members. I read in the papers just like any other Nigerian that a petition was coming and would be presented personally by Honourable members.
“And this morning, I saw an advert in ThisDay newspaper and with the Secretary of the commission we were going through and we discussed it. I was just sending for the Director of Operations that we didn’t even have to wait for you to bring in a petition before we look into it. We will look into this.
“And I was talking of setting up a committee of diligent and loyal and hard-working officers to look at this when I was told that you were around.
“We will receive this petition and we will look at it critically with professionalism and we will do our own. And whoever is responsible or is found wanting will be brought to justice.
“The law, as we say, is no respecter of persons. Nobody is above the laws of the land; everybody is equal before the law. And this is what we have been preaching and this is what we have been trying to do. I am particularly happy when people discover that something is wrong, economic crimes wise, and they take it upon themselves to expose and to bring it to our attention.
“We have been crying out loud that fighting corruption and economic crimes is not the exclusive preserve of the EFCC and ICPC, it is everybody’s fight, and it is every Nigerian’s fight.
“This is our country as you stated, we don’t have any other country, we have just Nigeria. And there is no place like home. Even those of you that have gone out, you can compare and see that home is home and that there is no place like home.
“We will be pained when our country is being run down, as a result of massive corruption. I am in a position to say because as I sit here, I know what goes on and I feel so much pain.
“A lot of Nigerians are trooping to India to seek for medical help. Just yesterday, India was categorised like us. Nigerians are trooping to Ghana to take our children to schools there. And this is a big shame, we cannot continue like this.
“And that was why when I got so desperate, I said may be the only thing is to get a law like death penalty just like the Chinese. They are many like us and the death penalty is working.
“Some Nigerians really hate Nigeria. If Nigeria was a human being, you can imagine Nigeria would not exist today. Nigeria is so battered. I am talking of various cases we are handling like Siemens, Halliburton, Daimler, and Wilbros. All these cases give us very, very bad image and a bad name that foreign investors are even scared to come in and do anything with us.
“They said when they come to do business with Nigeria, Nigerian officials must demand for bribes. When they pay, they go back there and American law is waiting for them and so what do they do.
“We have to look inward and do something. Whatever it is that anyone can do, we have to salvage our nation.
“For the National Assembly, the House of Representatives in particular, I have been worried, I think most Nigerians have been very concerned, because there have been scandals upon scandals in that House.
“And that is the bastion of democracy and the hope for the common man. And all the citizens that sent you or voted you there, they feel that you are there to protect them.
“But when we have issues all the time, starting from Salisu Buhari’s certificate, Etteh’s matter, the car scam and now, I mean, it is something that is worrisome.
“I think with this step you have taken and the action that will follow, you need to sanitise the House of Representatives and make it like any other House anywhere in the world, make it a beauty of democracy. I am sure that you have travelled to other Houses and parliaments.
“The other day, there was a fight also and chairs were flying in the House of Representatives. Was it not so?
“When you talk of the body of principal officers, we will swing into action and you will see what we are doing.
“I thank you and I wish other Nigerians will not sweep anything under the carpet, it won’t help anyone. If you know or feel that something is wrong somewhere, bring it to our attention and help us to fight this war.
“It is very tasking, it is very dangerous, very, very tedious, but we have to do it. And what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the House, on Monday, said it would leave no stone unturned towards addressing the corruption allegation, adding that the activities of the “Progressives,” led by Honourable Melaye, would not impair the unity in the House.
The House Leader, Honourable Tunde Akogun, who stated the position of the leadership on the rumblings in the House, occasioned by the allegations against the speaker, added that the House would take a decision on the issues at stake at today’s plenary session.
He said after the House decision, peace and tranquillity would return, which, he said, had more challenging responsibilities lying ahead of it.
“As we resume today, you will find out that we are more united as ever before. I have not seen a member who has shown interest in setting aside his primary responsibility to pursue matters not relevant to the progress of the House.
“So we are focused and determined to continue to play the roles that we were elected to play as members of the House of Representatives.
“I cannot predict the decision that we will take today on what we have been reading in the newspapers while we were away, but the truth of the matter is that, the leadership does not have a crisis that it cannot resolve.
“All I can plead now is for Nigerians to allow us to take a decision which, in my view, will return the House to the path of progress,” he said.
Akogun made this statement in an interview with House correspondents, against the backdrop of a petition filed by members of the “Progressives” against the speaker before the EFCC.
Honourable Melaye had alleged that the speaker mismanaged N9 billion being capital vote for the House of Representatives for 1999 and 2010 and had called on the leadership to account for the said money.
Earlier in the day, members of the House from Kogi State, from where Dino hails, held a meeting which lasted more than two hours to take a stand on what they referred to as “the recent activities of their colleague,” although they could not reach a consensus at the end of the meeting.
The Kogi caucus of the House, led by Honourable Atai Aidoko, had held a closed door meeting with the leaders of the House on the same issue, as members said they would address the media today to relay their stand on the activities of Melaye and his group.
In the same vein, the leadership had held meetings with different caucuses of the House on the developments in the House, with the expectation that each of the caucuses would declare their stand on the development before the resumption of House session today.
A prominent member of the “Progressives,” Honourable West Idahosa, had earlier alleged plans by the House leadership to suspend all the members, based on the allegations they had levelled against the speaker, adding that he and his colleagues would resist any move aimed at suspending anyone of them.
The Minority Leader of the House, Honourable Muhammed Ali Ndume, had, last week, dismissed plots by members of the “Progressives” to remove Bankole as speaker, saying that the leadership of the House had tolerated the aggrieved members for so long and was no longer prepared to allow them any more space.
He had told the media that the House would not hesitate to wield the big stick against members found culpable of denting the image of the House for no reason, although he had also called members of the “Progressives” to repent by retracing their steps before the House took a decision.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment