Charles Ajunwa
10 November 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
Arab's submission was acknowledged by PAN, which said the transaction went with a withheld tax and a N75 million-tax since remitted to the Federal Government. PAN's Acting General Manager, Mr. Umar Kaita, who appeared before the committee described the allegations by Keyamo as unfortunate, saying the documents he paraded might have been forged, as they contradicted the documents that PAN held on the transaction that was sealed on May 28, 2008.The House after the public hearing conducted by the Ethics and Privileges Committee, challenged all those still aggrieved by the purchase of the cars to direct their complaints to EFCC and ICPC.
While the leadership of the House was trying hard to justify the purchase of the Peugeot cars and clear itself of Keyamo's allegations of fraud, another scandal broke out on November 2, this year, a day after the Speaker marked his one year in office as some newspapers reported that Bankole allegedly inflated the prices of cars purchased for himself, his deputy and the Chief Whip as well as the purchase of office television sets and laptops and everything running into over N500 million.
But last Wednesday, the management of PAN and the National Assembly Bureaucracy, described the documents paraded by Keyamo as fake. Reacting swiftly to this second allegation, Eyiboh said it was baseless and only existed in the minds of those behind the circulation of the documents.
Eyiboh who said the offensive publication was sponsored by members who were aggrieved over the re-composition of the House standing committees, admitted that it was always the case whenever committees of the House or Senate are reconstituted and when some members fail to secure nomination into preferred committees.
Eyiboh in a statement entitled: "Corruption: Fresh Allegations of Fraud Against Speaker Baseless," challenged members allegedly behind the false allegations to raise it through established House rules.
"The leadership of the House of Representatives and the generality of the members are worried that some members who have decided to mask themselves, claiming to be whistle blowers have decided, to go to town again for a motive that it would be proper for every discernible mind to now ask what really is their intention?
"They are circulating documents purporting to be documents reflecting purchases of vehicles and television sets by the management of the House of Representatives with an intention of discrediting and undermining the leadership of the House of Representatives. We want to unavoidably say very clearly that one, if anybody and for that matter, wants to be a whistle blower, he doesn't need to mask himself. No member of the House of Representatives can be punished for being a whistle blower because the Speaker has no power to dismember or withdraw any member of the House. All the members of the House will run their full course, unless they are removed through constitutional and legal means.
"So, for anybody to just mask himself or herself, what is he or she afraid of? He should come out straight and raise the matter on the floor of the House after all, we have such provisions in our House rules.
In his own reaction, Bankole who has been quiet over the fraud, said he would remain calm until the ongoing probe of N2.4 billion car purchase was fully investigated by the anti-graft agencies.
Bankole who made this remark in Ilorin, Kwara State last Wednesday, while on a one-day official visit to the state, to assess the facilities at the state hajji camp for "Hajji 2008," said: "The people of the country have the right to know how their money is being spent and this is exactly what is happening now in the House of Representatives.It is proper for every Nigerian to ask questions on how their money is being spent especially when you have the House of Representatives asking questions about how monies are being spent in Nigeria so far and it is a matter of time before they come and ask me how money is being spent in the House. Let the investigation take its course, okay? Then, we can now make comments after then. I will remain calm and collective for now and allow the people have their say and by the grace of God, we too, we now have our own say," Bankole declared.
The question on the lips of many now is, whether Bankole will come out clean from these allegations of fraud against him or whether he will go the way of his predecessor, Hon. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, who was forced to resign her position as Speaker because of allegations of contract inflation. Only time will tell.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. 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.
