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Nigeria: Probe - Obasanjo Must Appear Today, Reps Insist
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Leadership (Abuja)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Philip Nyam
Even as the south-west caucus in the House of Representatives is expected to officially protest the invitation of former president Olusegun Obasanjo to appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel investigating the alleged expenditure of N16 billion on the sector during his tenure, the committee has refused to rescind its decision.
This is just at the leadership of the House is said to have decided to allow the committee a free hand to carry out its assignment without interference.
Obasanjo and his erstwhile deputy, Atiku Abubakar, as well as the immediate past finance minister, Mrs Esther Nenadi Usman, have been summoned to appear before the Ndudi Elumelu-led committee today at the conference room of the House of Representatives.
LEADERSHIP gathered yesterday that the South- West caucus, led by Hon. Ayo Adeseun, will today tender its letter of protest to the speaker, Dimeji Bankole, who just returned to the country from overseas.
Deputy chairman of the committee, Hon. Mohammed Jibo, said at the weeked that the committee never intended to humiliate Obasanjo but just to have him clear himself of some allegations.
Atiku had written to the committee, indicating his readiness to honour the invitation.
As at yesterday, it was not clear whether Obasanjo had received the letter of invitation or not. His aide had on Thursday told the News Agency of Nigeria that his boss was yet to be served with the summons.
But the South-West caucus in the House is not in support of the decision to invite Obasanjo to testify before the committee, preferring the committee to obtain his written presentation or alternatively visit him to have a one-on-one interaction instead of summoning him to Abuja.
The caucus has insisted that it is not defending the former president but that it would amount to lack of respect for him to be brought before the public glare to face cameras and respond to questions that border on his stewardship in the last eight years.
A member of the committee from Oyo State, Hon. Ajibola Muraina, who spoke to newsmen on phone from London, described the invitation of the former president as parliamentary blunder and subsequently dissociated himself from it.
However, secretary of the committee, Alhaji Salisu Ahmed, told LEADERSHIP that the letter was dispatched since last Tuesday and would definitely get to the former leader before today to enable him respond.
He said that no counter-letter has been written by the committee to withdraw the invitation.
Sources close to the leadership of the House confirmed to LEADERSHIP yesterday that when the news of the summon became public last week, the deputy speaker met with principal officers, the clerk of the National Assembly and the House of Representatives and other top management staff, to see how they could douse the tension that it generated.
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According to the source, some members had argued that the invitation was not properly originated, that the clerk would have signed the summon instead of the secretary of the committee.
Our correspondent gathered that the leadership of the House, at the meeting held last Thursday, decided that it would not interfere in the process but allow the committee to go on with its job.
At the weekend there were reports that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was uncomfortable with the summons just as the leadership of the House was said to be at war with the committee for inviting the former leader without seeking its approval.
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