Anyone following the current brewing 2.4 billion Naira cars-purchase scandal in the Nigerian House of Representatives, will automatically be taken aback to the forced resignation of a one time Madam-speaker of the same house, Ms. Patricia Etteh. However why Oladimeji Sabur Bankole, the current speaker has not followed suit and resigned his office as speaker, baffles ever right thinking man and woman all over the world particularly Nigeria. Why should the treatment for a woman speaker be different from that of a man speaker? Icheokudotcom therefore call on Oladimeji Bankole to resign his office as speaker, forthwith to enable full investigation into this alleged fraud. One thing that stands out of this controversy is that retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Senator Nuhu Aliyu may after-all be right when he accused the Nigerian House of Representatives of accommodating some members who are known criminal 419 perpetrators. He was cowed down, cajoled and threatened with both bodily harm and harm to his family for daring to speak out the truth. The powers that be forced Nuhu Aliyu to retract his accusation and subsequently made to apologise for his observation.What Nigeria is witnessing today is a House of Representatives operating in a very fishy-like manner, comparable to the stealthy ways of atypical 419 criminal operators. How can a multi billion Naira contract be awarded without necessary transparency and due process? The former speaker Patricia Ette got mired in a six (600) hundred million Naira house-furnishing contract scandal and was forced out of office; now Oladimeji Bankole should not be an exception. If Ette went so should Bankole, except if it was male chauvinism that forced out the woman former speaker and not necessarily for her alleged corrupt practices.
Icheokudotcom says that the problem with Nigeria is not her leadership but Nigerians themselves who provide that type of leadership that are largely thieves, only waiting for the right opportunity and time to strike. Why trade a female-thief for another male-thief? Look at the people representing Nigerians, band of bandits whose only relevance is that they loot and steal from the masses without let or hindrance. Enough of this bawdy thievery. The car scandal must and should be investigated to its logical conclusion, in order to manifest a willingness to fight corruption in the Nigerian House of Representatives. If the House of Representatives truly represent the Nigerian people and they are patently that corrupt, it is a reflective of a society that made them their representatives. It is maddening, the crass disposition to corruptly enrich themselves, of these men and women whose actions and unconstitutional behaviour does not augur well for a seemly elected representatives of the people of Nigeria. The only way to make this right or right the wrong of this 2.4 billion Naira car scandal is to get to its bottom in an open investigation devoid of the usual hush-hush, mush-mush attitude of governments in Nigeria. It should be a no-holds bare investigation. Only in this way, will the confidence of the Nigerian people be restored once again in her House of Representatives; otherwise they will be seen and perceived as a band of thieves!.
Icheokudotcom says that the problem with Nigeria is not her leadership but Nigerians themselves who provide that type of leadership that are largely thieves, only waiting for the right opportunity and time to strike. Why trade a female-thief for another male-thief? Look at the people representing Nigerians, band of bandits whose only relevance is that they loot and steal from the masses without let or hindrance. Enough of this bawdy thievery. The car scandal must and should be investigated to its logical conclusion, in order to manifest a willingness to fight corruption in the Nigerian House of Representatives. If the House of Representatives truly represent the Nigerian people and they are patently that corrupt, it is a reflective of a society that made them their representatives. It is maddening, the crass disposition to corruptly enrich themselves, of these men and women whose actions and unconstitutional behaviour does not augur well for a seemly elected representatives of the people of Nigeria. The only way to make this right or right the wrong of this 2.4 billion Naira car scandal is to get to its bottom in an open investigation devoid of the usual hush-hush, mush-mush attitude of governments in Nigeria. It should be a no-holds bare investigation. Only in this way, will the confidence of the Nigerian people be restored once again in her House of Representatives; otherwise they will be seen and perceived as a band of thieves!.
N2.3bn Car Deal: Group Denies Pact With Keyamo
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Philip Nyam, Abuja
November 24th, 2008
Transparency Group has decried statements credited to a member of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges investigating allegations of fraud in the N2.3 billion purchase of 380 Peugeot 407 cars by the leadership of the House of Representatives were present when Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo appeared before the committee to give evidence.
The group has also called on the ethics committee to investigate the matter thoroughly and be fair in its report. Transparency Group is a group of members of the House advocating for independent probe into the allegations leveled against the leadership by Festus Keyamo.
In a press release by the leader of the group, Hon. Tam Brisibe at the weekend, the Transparency Group picked holes in a story published in Daily Trust, which quoted a member of the ethics committee, Hon. Yakubu Dogara as saying that the group was working in concert Keyamo.
The statement titled "Hon. Dogara: A judge or an advocate" the group observed that "Our attention has been drawn to page 5 of the Daily Trust of Wednesday 19th November 2008 which in a story on the N2.3 billion car issue in the House of representatives has a paragraph which states as follows;
"However, Rep. Yakubu Dogara (PDP Bauchi) said that the testimony of the MPs have established a pattern as all of them were at the public hearing when Festus Keyamo testified and were also present when Gbenga Oduwaiye mounted the witness box".
Hon. Brisibe noted that "Hon. Yakubu Dogara is a member of the Ethics and Privileges Committee investigating the matter concerning the 380 Peugeot 407 cars bought for the House Committee oversight functions and before which five members of the House of Representatives have also appeared. We want to state categorically that the statement credited to him is false as not all the members of the Transparency Group appeared at the public hearing when Festus Keyamo testified and when Hon. Gbenga Oduwaiye mounted the witness box.
The Transparency Group further maintained that "in the light of this it is worrying that a member of that committee is already making statements which appear to be prejudicial to the final report which is still being expected. In a civil court, a comment as was made by Hon. Dogara, being made by a judge sitting on a matter would automatically justify the call for a mistrial"
The leader of the group restated their commitment that "the position of the Transparency Group is that we, by and large have confidence in the ability of our colleagues to be fair and transparent, and would only warn again, that the report of the Committee on Ethics and Privileges is not for the committee members alone, nor for the House of representatives, but for the Nigerian people whose taxes are used to maintain the institutions of state, the National Assembly inclusive"
Meanwhile a member of the group, Hon. Gbenga Oduwaiye is demanding a N250 million compensation from a civil rights activist,Comrade Farouk Umar for defamation.
In a letter dated November 17th, 2008 written by Oduwaiye's lawyers, Kunle Kalejaye and co.,the lawmaker said Umar's latter to the house committee on ethics and privileges concerning their client was 'defamatory'and contained 'false, spurious and malicious statements against our client which were fabricated by you to cast a slur on the image and integrity of our client'.
Apart from the N250 million for damages, Hon. Oduwaye is demanding a written apology from Comrade Umar in at least three widely read newspapers with a copy sent to the chairman of the committee on ethics.
According to the letter, failure by Comrade Umar to comply with the demands of Hon. Oduwaiye will result into a law suit.
N2.3bn car scandal: Why panel postponed submission of report – Investigation
ReplyDeleteBy John Ameh, Abuja
Published: Monday, 1 Dec 2008
The much-awaited report on the investigation into the N2.3bn car scandal in the House of Representatives will be submitted this week.
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Two of the three-part report were to have been laid before the House on Thursday.
Our correspondent however gathered that the Committee on Ethics and Privileges, which handled the investigation, later withdrew the reports when it discovered that President Umaru Yar’Adua was scheduled to present the 2009 budget proposal to the joint session of the National Assembly the same day.
Yar’Adua later postponed the presentation of the budget estimates.
A National Assembly source told our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday that “it was already late when the committee members realised on Wednesday that Mr. President was no longer coming to present his budget estimates.”
The source said, “Due to the expected presidential visit to the National Assembly, the House earlier in the day (Wednesday) withdrew the report on the N2.3bn car controversy from the Order Paper for Thursday.
“Unfortunately, they couldn’t get around to list it on the paper again when it dawned on them that Yar’Adua had postponed his visit,” the source added.
According to him, the House considers the report and the 2009 budget as “two important issues that will engage the attention of lawmakers,” hence the decision of the committee to defer the presentation of the report to another date.
When our correspondent sought the comments of the Chairman of the panel, Sani Saleh-Minjibir, he admitted that the submission of the report was deferred because of the botched presidential visit to the National Assembly.
He said, “We thought of presenting the report on Tuesday this week, but again, Mr. President has equally postponed the budget presentation till Tuesday this week.
“So, we may present it on Wednesday, the next day after the budget would have been presented.”
THE PUNCH had reported exclusively on Tuesday that two of the reports were to be submitted on Thursday.
The first report, which the panel had labelled “main report,” would deal with the alleged N2.3bn car scam itself.
“Essentially, this will deal with the allegations of Mr. Festus Keyamo and a news magazine, the testimonies of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited and the submissions of the Management of the National Assembly.
“Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria was before the committee; the Federal Inland Revenue Service was here and of course, you will recall that Zenith Bank Plc also testified. These will be covered in the main report” our source had told our correspondent.
Meanwhile, more facts emerged on Sunday on how the Speaker of the House, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, and a member, purportedly disagreed over the quarterly allocations for the operation of House committees and other activities.
It was learnt that the disagreement was one of the remote causes of the current instability in the House.
Investigations revealed that a member of the Transparency Group had gone to Bankole earlier in the year with the managing director of a particular bank and sought to have the accounts of some committees transferred to the bank.
“Ostensibly, the member wanted a credit facility from the bank and the bank had given the condition that the lawmaker should seek for the transfer of the accounts of the House’ quarterly allocations to it.”
Another National Assembly source told our correspondent that “at first, the Speaker promised to look into the matter but when he (lawmaker) realised that Bankole did not oblige him after the first and second quarter allocations were still kept in already existing accounts, he got angry.”
It was gathered that the lawmaker, who also had allegedly lobbied for the chairmanship of the Committee on the Niger Delta Development Commission, went to Bankole a second time with the bank chief but he (Bankole) advised him to take his request to the Management of the National Assembly.
Reports indicated that another key member of the group had confided in his associates that he was not fighting Bankole per se but the Chief Whip of the House, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha.
“The lawmaker has blamed his woes on Ihedioha whom he accused of influencing his loss of a vital committee seat,” the source stated.
Investigations showed that in the wake of the crisis, Bankole allegedly sought to find out from the lawmaker why he was moving against him.