30 August 2007
Lagos — Action Congress (AC) has again reacted to the N628 million contract scam levelled against House of Representatives Speaker, Mrs Patricia Etteh, warning the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to sweep the allegation under the carpet.
The speaker alongside her deputy, Hon. Bala Nguroje is alleged to have spent N628 millioin to renovate their Abuja offical residences.
But in a statement yesterday, the AC through its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said that the PDP plans to treat the issue as another 'family affair' by playing down the scandal and ensuring a soft landing for the Speaker would spell more doom for the fortunes of the PDP.
AC also condemned the Speaker for her seeming nonchalance since the scandal broke out, saying such attitude confirms its earlier expression of doubt of Mrs. Etteh confidence to preside over the affairs of the Lower House.
"Mrs. Etteh is not the Speaker of the PDP's House of Representatives but that of Nigeria's House of Representatives, with responsibility to all Nigerians. It is therefore wrong for the PDP to embark on the self-destructive path of branding this incredible scandal as a 'PDP family affair' as a means of covering it up.
"We are talking here of an issue that bothers on transparency and accountability, and some PDP members are trivializing it just like they did to many serious national issues under the anything-goes administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
"Our fear is simple: If Mrs. Etteh can be involved in the kind of scandal that has now become the main issue in national discourse just a few months after assuming office, we can only imagine what will happen in the next four years," the AC added.
The party said the world is watching to see whether the allegations against the leadership of would be investigated dispassionately and the outcome made public.
"Unless that is done and those involved are cleared of any wrongdoing, Etteh's leadership of the House has been weakened and her integrity compromised, a development that is bound to affect the effectiveness of the honourable chamber in performing its constitutional role," it added.
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