Senate’s season of probes and revelations

Taiwo Adisa, Abuja

David MarkFrom Monday, June 23, the Senate got soaked up in series of probes that completely dwarfed the legislative businesses that usually take place at plenary sessions.

The probe by the upper chamber into the management of the transport sector between 1999 and 2007 kicked off that Monday on a rather quiet note, with the Senate ad-hoc committee saddled with the task of conducting the probe headed by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri turning back the Minister of Transport, Mrs. Diezani Allinson-Maduekwe.

Allinson-Maduekwe had brought documents relating to her ministry that day and was ready to present same before the committee, but members insisted that they needed time to study the memorandum submitted by the minister.

Besides the public hearing being conducted by the ad-hoc committee, there was also the probe into the N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund released during the last administration being conducted by the Senator Anyim Ude-led Senate Committee on Aviation.

The first revelation that made heads turn was the allegation that the Safe Tower Project which was supposed to have been covered by the Aviation Intervention Fund was inflated to the tune of N5.5 billion.

A consultant to the aviation committee, Captain Daniel Omale, had submitted a report to the committee that the Safe Tower Project which was meant to cover airports in Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt was to cost N1 billion, but that the contract was jerked up initially to N2 billion, only for it to be further raised to N6.5 billion.

He also said that when the contract was raised to N6.5 billion, the sum of N6.4 billion was paid to the company, M/S Avsatel of Vienna, Austria. The Nigerian representative of that company, Mr. Georg Eider, was to be the cynosure of all eyes on Wednesday, June 25, when he appeared before the Committee.

The man had been less than cooperative when he gave his testimony. But committee chairman, Senator Ude, promptly sought the leave of the Senate to have him interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), when he dashed into the Senate chamber to confer with the deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekwremadu, who presided over the sitting that day.

Having received the nod of the Senate to have Eider arrested and tried by the EFCC, Senator Ude returned to the hearing room re-invigorated. He had earlier told the Austrian, Eider, to wait around for further clarifications.

But there was drama as Eider, contrary to the advice by the Senate committee chairman, attempted to bolt from the hearing room. Senator Ude promptly called on the Sergeant-at-Arms to place the Austrian under arrest.

At that time, officials of the EFCC were already on their way and shortly after Colonel Emeka Okere (rtd.), the head of the National Assembly security, took the Austrian out of the hearing room, he was driven off in an EFCC Hiace bus marked ABUJA 329 YAB.

Eider told National Assembly correspondents, just before he was driven away from the entrance of the Assembly, that he did not know why he was being arrested. That reason has now been clarified to him, however, with the commencement of his prosecution by the EFCC for allegedly defrauding Nigeria to the tune of N5.5 billion.

There were also revelations that the immediate past administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo spent the sum of N86 billion on rail transport renewal without results, besides the mind-boggling revelation that Allinson-Madueke spent over N30 billion within six days during the last yuletide.

But one man that stole the show at the hearing before the Senator Lokpobiri-led committee is the former chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih.

Anenih had been the subject of snide media attacks over his role as minister of works between 1999 and 2002, with many often referring to the claim by former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Kalu, that the former minister spent a whopping N300 billion in his time without delivering roads to Nigerians.

In putting a lie to the claim that the sum of N300 billion was spent on roads, Anenih could not hold his anger and had to be calmed by the committee chairman on a number of occasions.

“I have said that I will not engage in frivolous diversions and that I would concentrate on those issues that are relevant to the success of your all-important assignment.

I am committed to this line of thought, but let me quickly state that the celebrated N300 billion or N400 billion alleged by some individuals to have been spent by me while I was in the ministry is not only a figment of their imagination but also deliberate mischief. The probes have not ended yet and this week, more revelations and drama are expected.

As Bankole scaled impeachment hurdle...

Bola Badmus, Abuja

Heavens were supposed to fall last week regarding some allegations leveled against the Speaker, House of Representative, Honourable ‘Dimeji Bankole. Rowdy sessions akin to those witnessed during Honourable Olubunmi Etteh-led House was envisaged and it was even expected that the speaker’ exit from the exalted position he is occupying was about to take place.

All this was what pervaded the political atmosphere around the Dome, the base of the highest legislative body in the country. Bankole had been accused of neglecting the House duty while preferring to junket around the world with just a few of his colleague lawmakers.

The speaker was also accused of causing unnecessary delay in the reconstitution of the House committees after he had led the House for about seven months. This is an exercise which the members of Integrity Group, who worked for the enthronement of the speaker, were hoping to benefit from. They are said to be at pains rationalising why the speaker had continued to keep them waiting and giving them several unfulfilled promises.

Other issues concerning the list of members that would serve on the Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution as well as alleged mismanagement of the sum of N400 million were also involved.

These were issues that had dominated the front pages of newspapers and it was expected that the House was going to boil last Tuesday when it resumed from its three-week holiday. Alas, nothing of that sort eventually happened as wisdom prevailed.

As is customary with the House, a closed-door session was immediately called after the Honourable Bankole officially welcomed members from the holiday. All the issues in contention were said to have been discussed at the executive session.

It was gathered that the supposed arrow-heads of the plot against the speaker and other members, numbering about 40, spoke in turn and poured out their minds on what they felt was wrong with the running of the House by the leadership.

Findings have shown that those who were accusing the speaker and the House leadership had no evidence to back their claim and, therefore, there was nothing to prove. However, the proof of what were said about the speaker was said to be that those who were behind the plot were very close to him.

As some people have argued, what further evidence does one need when those close to a person say something about him? But then, the speaker and the House leadership were said to have admitted that there was communication gap which they promised to bridge.

Besides, Bankole was said to have humbled himself before his colleagues, reminding them that they were the ones that put him there as speaker and that he could not do the job without their support and cooperation.

He was said to have expressed the feeling that he might have offended some people in the course of carrying out his assignment as speaker of the House of Representatives because of the enormity of that office and pleaded that he be forgiven if there was any error he had committed.

This rare courage and wisdom which Bankole demonstrated were said to have impressed the lawmakers who were initially calling for his head. It has also made him the darling of nearly every member of the 360-member lower parliament.

According to observers of political events in the House, what happened last Tuesday in the lower chamber was an outright vote of confidence on the speaker and such confidence vote obtained in a situation devoid of political harassment and coercion lasts longer than the one obtained otherwise.

As some people observed, it was victory for democracy and rule of law.