N/Assembly may invite OBJ over secret accounts - No need to summon him - PDP

By Idowu Samuel - 14.01.2008

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo may make his first appearance after office before the National Assembly to answer questions on the 16 undisclosed accounts recently discovered by the Federal Government in the process of budget passage.

The secret accounts are said to have been created and operated by the administration of Chief Obasanjo. The discovery of the secret accounts has been slowing down the process of passage of the 2008 appropriation bill presented to the joint sitting of the National Assembly in November by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Already, the president had ordered an investigation into the operations of the undisclosed accounts and had equally directed the Ministry of Finance and other relevant ministries to supply useful information meant to unravel the truth on the accounts.

Both the executive arm and the National Assembly are to conduct parallel investigations on the operation of the accounts. Feelers from the National Assembly are indicating, however, that either the Senate or the House of Representatives would invite Chief Obasanjo to a public hearing which would be called to facilitate the process of investigation of the secret accounts.

Also to be invited to answer questions on the operation of the accounts are the former Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; her secessor, Mrs Nnenadi Usman, and the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo.

Full investigation into the account is expected to commence in the National Assembly after the passage of the 2008 budget. Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja both the chairman, House Committee on Appropriation and Rules and Business, Honourable Festus Adegoke and Hon. Ita Enang, said facts were already being collated by the National Assembly on the secret accounts.

Both chairmen refused to disclosed the nature of the facts for security reasons, stressing that the public would be briefed at the appropriate time.

However, the House Committee Chairman on Information and National Orientation, Honourable Dino Melaye, said the National Assembly would invite any one that was connected with the opening of the secret accounts, irrespective of his status

He said “ the era of cash and carry legislation is gone in Nigeria. We shall leave no stone unturned to invite any one so connected with the operation of the secret accounts.

“The corporate interest of Nigeria is more important and valuable to us than the interest of any individual and for this, If Obasanjo, Okonjo-Iweala, Nenadi Usman and Soludo have cases to answer, we shall not hesitate to summon them to testify.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed the possibility of National Assembly inviting Obasanjo on the probe of the secret accounts.

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, the PDP’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Chief Bayo Alao, said Obasanjo, as the immediate past president of Nigeria, could not be summoned as an individual to answer questions on decisions taken by the Federal Government during his administration.