Leon Usigbe and Torde Salem
30 September 2007
AT least seven members of the House of Representatives from the South-west are now jostling to clinch the position of Speaker if the incumbent, Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, is removed from office following the report of the nine-man ad-hoc committee that investigated the N628 million contract scam in the House which indicted her. They include Hon. Dave Salako, Hon. Dimeji Bankole and Hon. Kayode Amusan all from Ogun State. Others are Hon. Lad Alaba Ojomo from Ondo State, Hon. Wole Oke and Hon. Leo Awoyemi both from Osun State and Hon. Festus Adegoke from Oyo State.
The committee that investigated Etteh vis-a-vis the contract scam in the House had come up with a ten-point conclusion as follows:
• The tender was not advertised.
• No in-house bill of quantities and drawings (architectural, structural, electrical and mechanical) as such, there was no basis for arriving at the approved contract sums.
• No specific budgetary provision for renovation and furnishing of the official residence of the speaker and deputy in the 2007 Budget.
• No specific budgetary provision for the purchase of vehicles for the principal officers in the 2007 Budget.
• The procedure for the award by the Body of Principal Officers on July 12, 2007 shows major act of omission and disregard for laid down procedure.
• The memoranda for the award of contracts presented at the meeting of the Body of Principal Officers on July 12, 2007 were raised before some of the questions for the jobs were processed.
• Some of the companies that sent quotations were not registered with Corporate Affairs Commission. They, therefore, lacked capacity to compete for the contracts in question since the law does not recognize them as persons.
• It appears that some principal officers were excluded from the meeting of July 12, by not serving them notice for the meeting particularly the minority leadership.
• The contract sum of N238,852,152.00 in respect of the renovation and furnishing of the residence of Speaker was for the main house and not inclusive of cluster of structures in the compound; and
• All quotations relating to the renovation and furnishing contracts directed to the office of the speaker and those directed to the office of the clerk to the National Assembly were first acted upon by the Hon. Speaker for the attention of the clerk to the National Assembly directing him to process.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that following the release of the Idoko Report and their expectation that Etteh may be removed after the debate of the report by the House when it reconvenes next week after two weeks recess, the contenders have plunged headlong into campaign to secure the support of their colleagues in the House for their ambition. The seven lawmakers had been in the race for House Speaker in June before the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under pressure from former President Olusegun Obasanjo conceded it to Etteh.
Salako who represents Remo Federal Constituency of Ogun State was first elected to the House in 2003 and had held the position of the chairman of the House Committee on Information and presently is the chairman of the Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes. Dimeji, who is one of the youngest men in the House having been born in 1969, is also a returning member representing Abeokuta South Federal Constituency of Ogun State and holds the position of the chairman of the House Committee on Land Transport.
Amusan represents Abeokuta/Odeda/Obafemi-Owode Federal Constituency of Ogun State and he is deputy chairman of Housing and Habitat Committee while Ojomo represents Owo/Ose Federal Constituency of Ondo State and is deputy chairman of the House Committee on Health. Oke was regarded as the biggest threat to Etteh in the run up to her selection in June coming from the same state with her. He represents Obokun/Oriade/Federal Constituency of Osun State. He is chairman of the House Committee on Defence.
Awoyemi comes from Osogbo/Olorunda/Orolu Federal Constituency of Osun State while Adegoke represents Egbeda/Ona-Ara Federal Constituency of Oyo State and he is presently the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation. All the contenders, Sunday Vanguard found out, are in consultations with their political leaders even as friends are also involved in negotiations with members of the House to muster enough supporters to rise to the coveted seat.
Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon from Edo State confirmed to Sunday Vanguard that five of the contenders had already reached out to him. He wanted them to avoid the bickering that surrounded the election of Etteh as speaker. He also advised the PDP to give the House a free hand to elect its speaker. Similarly, Hon. Abike Dabiri from Lagos, Hon. Samson Osagie from Edo and Hon. Halims Agoda from Delta agreed that it was perfectly legitimate for members to begin their quest for the position.
Said Obahiagbon: "Our colleagues legitimately are already posturing, and of course about four or five of them have spoken to me, from the South-west to move into the office of Mr. Speaker if indeed it becomes vacant. My advice to them is to avoid political bellicosity and to allow ideology to be the main political tide. We will equally appeal to the party to allow the speaker to emerge from an open competition on the floor of the House. It is a speaker that we as members of the House of Representatives elect by ourselves freely without pressure that we would respect."
Osagie, commenting on the matter, said: "It is a welcome development. Leadership is about sacrifice. Leadership is about dedication. Leadership is about commitment and you cannot have commitment if a leadership does not evolve from the people. I believe that for those who are aspiring to take leadership position, they must try to win the confidence of the majority of the members so that when they get there, they can respect the views, they can respect the wishes, they can respect the thinking of their colleagues. How they do that is left for those who are aspiring. I have no ambition and, as far as I am concerned, it is best for the system to grow. When you have competition, you are much more likely to get a better deal at the end of the day."
Dabiri explained her position this way: "If the situation gets to that point (new leadership), let us choose our leaders. I mean, let those who are interested, I believe, from the South-west, come out and show interest in the position. I am not qualified because I am not in the ruling party but then, we should look at members based on what we think they can do. We know members in this House and we should know what each member can do. But it must be democratic. Let them come on the floor and vote for who we want as our speaker."
Agoda said: "Whoever finds himself in such office should play by the rules of the game and should humble himself or herself. Humility pays."
Impeachment hurdle: Meanwhile, indications emerged, weekend, that the embattled speaker might scale impeachment hurdle when the House resumes and debates the panel's report. Sources who pleaded anonymity confirmed that many members of the House after "individually looking at the report of the panel set up to probe the renovation controversy have resolved that the speaker was not particularly guilty of any offence, and does not deserve to be removed."
Some of the members who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing reason of subjudice, insisted that Etteh did not order release of money for any contract, and must therefore retain her office."If there were no bills of quantity, we can't hold Madam speaker responsible for that especially when minutes of the July 12 meeting showed that the bureaucrats told her that due process was followed.
If the tender was not advertised, whose duty is it to advertise tenders? Is Madam speaker also supposed to go to the Corporate Affairs Commission to check the registration numbers of the companies that sent in quotation? We all thought she did something terrible but the report we have does not show that," a member from the South east argued.
The pro-Etteh lawmakers in the House, had, in a statement, Friday, insisted that the panel's report was lopsided as the speaker's strong-worded testimony was watered down. Said one of the lawmakers: "Despite incontrovertible evidence in the speaker's submission, as was reflected in the minutes of the meeting of the Tender's Board that directors assured her that due process was fully followed, the report did not reflect that submission.
"Can you imagine that the woman asked the director of legal services of NASS of the propriety or otherwise of the procedures followed, to which the man answered in the affirmative? Yet this was not reflected in the report. The whole thing looks like a case of giving a dog a bad name to hang it, but good enough the report's conclusions were more of technical issues."
Etteh's fate: In a related development, the majority leader of the House, Chief Tunde Akogun, says he is satisfied with the report of the probe panel that investigated the contracts for the renovation of the speaker's house and that of her deputy. Akogun, who spoke during an interview with Sunday Vanguard, explained how the fate of Etteh would be decided when the House deliberates on the panel report. Excerpts:
Are you satisfied that members have sat for only 33 days in 3 months?
Members of the House are supposed to meet for at least 181 days in a year, and we have always struggled, we have always made every attempt to meet this requirement; this legislative duty. The days mustn't consist of plenary sessions alone. It's not only plenary sessions, there could be other committee assignments, when the occasion demands like the situation now has made it compulsory or mandatory that committees should go out; almost all the committees.
Sometimes when we are in plenary sessions two or three or four of the committees can be holding meetings somewhere in the committee rooms, pari pasu at the same time. As at now we are expecting Mr. president's budget and all the committees that have just been set up in this legislative session, so if we can be on for one or two years and committees are on with their work, they would have already made their mark.
Are you, therefore, satisfied that the House has sat for less than half of the days since its inauguration in June this year?
It is very unfair to begin to relate the number of days we sat; to count it with the date of inauguration. A legislative year, is such that there is a summer or annual break, and that is about the only time that legislators relax.
The fact that the inauguration took place this year, shouldn't make us not to keep to our legislative calendar. Actually those who have been there have been working since last year that is the members who returned. They have acclimatised or conditioned their psyches to a period of rest. Actually after that there would actually be no serious recess by the House. Even if you go for Christmas or New Year your mind is here.
Would you then say you are serving by example? Because last year as a result of some interrupting crises in the House, you sat for 171 days, 10 days short of the constitutional requirement, and now there are fresh doubts that because of the contract crisis you may not even make 100 days?
I wouldn't know whether it is the media people who did that calculation, but I would say as House leader, I sat with the Senate leader and drew out a calendar that would make sure that certainly at the end of this legislative year, we would have sat for more than 181 days. It is good that you have taken the pains to seek this explanation otherwise, others who just watch the sittings would not know what to make of our legislative calendar.
What are the sanctions for erring or lazy committees?
Actually, part of my schedule is to oversee the job of committees and I have turned up with letters listing out the rules of the game, and as reminder, even the new chairmen and members of committees before embarking on committee tours to sensitize and ensure that all committee chairman are knowledgeable about their objects of oversight, call to inform me. They also seek authorization from the speaker on what to do and that puts them online.
Now that you have received the report of the probe panel, what method would you adopt in deciding on it?
Well this is a democratic setting and we would expect that as many members as they would want to make contributions should make.
Would that require all members speaking on it?
That is what I am saying because of time, we would allow members to make contributions at least for one minute each.
Are you satisfied with the panel's report?
They had terms of reference, so it is for the whole House to decide on what to do with the report, but as for me I don't think they derailed from their terms of reference, so I give them a pat on the back.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
