Issues as invitees shunned Reps Ethics C’ttee

Dimeji BankoleThose invited before the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Priviledges turned their backs to it, writes Bola Badmus.

Finally, the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges took a bold step to probe the allegation made by Senator Nuhu Aliyu that the National Assembly consisted of fraudsters. The House had mandated the committee long ago to conduct an investigation in the allegation and report back to it. The committee was said to been divided over whether or not to go ahead with the probe.

According to a report, the committee, headed by Honourable Florence Akinwale, was said to have had division among its members with its deputy chairman allegedly leading a group believed to have argued that the probe was no longer necessary because the senator in contention had apologised over the allegation.

However, the group led by the chairman of the committee was said to have disagreed, saying that Senator Aliyu should pocket his apology and come forward before the committee to disclose those he considered as fraudsters among the National Assembly members.

But despite the insistence of the committee which maintained that it was at no time divided, Senator Aliyu refused to honour its invitation to appear at the two-day public hearing which was held last week. Also, other people invited by the committee shunned the public hearing. These included the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro; Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola; Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde; and the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Afakriya Gadzama, among others.

The curious thing about the occurrences at the committee was that Mr. Okiro was at the premises of the National Assembly on the second day of the hearing, but did not appear before the committee. The IGP had come to apologise to the Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Oladimeji Bankole, over the arrest and detention of 30 House members regarding a motor accident involving one of them.

According to the secretary of the committee, the IGP came to the National Assembly and went straight to the office of the speaker. The secretary said he felt that the IGP was going to attend the hearing after leaving the speaker’s office, but discovered that he left thereafter for his office.

For the committee, the absence of Senator Aliyu gave it an opportunity to rake at him, describing him as unfit to be called a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The floodgate of attacks on the senator started with Honourable Halims Agoda, who said the senator was a disgrace to the nation for refusing to honour the invitation that would have enabled him to prove the allegation he made on the floor of the Senate that the National Assembly consisted of fraudsters. He wanted his constituency to recall him for not being able to prove his allegation.

Honourable Patrick Ihariale said the allegation made by Aliyu was a deliberate attempt to rubbish the National Assembly, saying it was part of the damaging mission being embarked upon by some people in the country. Both lawmakers agreed that the absence of Aliyu and some members of the public including human rights group at the committee’s hearing had allowed the National Assembly the opportunity to wash its members clean of the allegation made by the senator.

This stand was also shared by all the other members of the committee with Honourable Chile Igbawua reminding the members of the public that the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges was a standing one which would always be there to receive complaints from anybody at all time and investigate such complaints.

In the next few days, the House of Representatives will receive the report of the committee. But a nagging question is whether the entire House in session would agree with the committee that Senator Aliyu from Niger State is a disgrace to his family, the state he represents, the National Assembly and the nation.