Democracy Day celebrations - Undercurrents of Reps’ crisis

Dimeji BankoleOnce again, the House of Representatives is mired in controversy over money. Assistant Editor, Leon Usigbe, looks at the implications of the latest allegations threatening the leadership of the lower chamber.

SEVERAL disagreements that have occurred in the House, especially in the present dispensation, have their roots in money. They include bribery allegations from contractors interested in getting favourable reports from the House Committee on Power, N400million unauthorised expenditure, N2.3 billion car contract scam and the latest N150 million allegedly misappropriated during the celebration of 10 years of unbroken democratic governance.

When it comes to positioning for standing committees, the underlying motivation remains how much personal or collective pecuniary gain is involved. When some members feel shut out from opportunities, all hell is let loose.

Successive leaderships of the House had been hounded by members over certain “issues of public interest” not necessarily for altruistic reasons, but to appropriate House resources for personal comfort.

Similarly, any perceived delay in the release of cash due to members can cause a stir by those already harbouring one grouse or the other. Things are quickly resolved once the protagonists are called and “settled” by the leadership or their agents. This settlement may not be because they actually have incontrovertible evidence to effect their schemes but because of the need to ensure continuous harmony in the legislature and focus on the business of legislating.

It is hard to pinpoint where this present crisis in the House will lead because at the moment, it does not seem to target the leadership per se but rather one or two of its fringe members who have no statutory authority to either approve or disburse House funds.

Issues on latest crisis
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information and National Orientation, Honourable Dino Melaye, had alleged the misappropriation of the sum of N150 million allocated for the celebration of 10 years of sustainable democracy. The money was put in the custody of the Chief Whip of the House, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, who Melaye accused of not providing anything appreciable during the celebration to suggest that such amount was, indeed, expended for the purpose. Melaye has since proceeded to collect signature of members with a view to launching an impeachment move against Ihedioha who had sought to extricate himself from the allegation. According to a statement he issued, there was no fraudulent practice in the disbursement of the fund as claimed by Melaye. The lawmaker said he did nothing wrong to warrant the call for his removal from office.

The issue exposed the deep resentment some members have for attempts to shut them out of any process in the House because apart from the fact that all may not have gone well with the disbursement of the fund, the major grouse appears to be the failure of Ihedioha to take other members of the committee, who supposedly organised the event, into confidence, giving rise to suspicion. He was perceived to have planned and executed the ceremony with only a few others. Melaye and other members who could not stomach any of this, attempted to cash in on the pent-up discontentment against previous actions of some members of the leadership to ruffle some feathers. A substantial number of members of the House scored the performance of the leadership as below standard and may be willing to make efforts towards pressuring the leadership.

Dramatis Personae
There are specific cases against individuals such as the House Leader, Honourable Tunde Akogun and Ihedioha. If, indeed, Melaye has been able to mobilise over 200 signatures as he claimed against Akogun and Ihedioha, members would perhaps not have signed to impeach Akogun on account of his role in the celebration but for his long perceived not too good attitude to the job.

As for Ihedioha, he has continued to pile up enemies among his colleagues right from the events leading to his emergence as the Chief Whip in December 2007. He further compounded his situation by his seeming pronounced aloofness from other lawmakers.

Apart from the Speaker, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, Ihedioha was the only person among the current principal officers of the House not inherited from the Honourable Patricia Etteh era. All other officers were restored to their positions at the ouster of Etteh except the Chief Whip then, Honourable Bethel Amadi, who Ihedioha allegedly schemed out of reckoning to assume the position as the South-East representative in the House leadership.

Many members have continued to rue the circumstances that led to his emergence and may not spare any opportunity to return him as a floor member of the House once the opportunity presents itself. However, this seems to be a long shot at the moment because the present move is unlikely to gather enough momentum to compel the House to act in that direction. Some political pundits even say that any attempt to impeach him may engender a chain reaction that may have an adverse effect on the entire leadership.

Possible Scenerio
Already, the present move against him has opened up a different case with the agitation by other members of the House for the full disclosure of the expenditure on the recent Afro-Arab parliamentary summit hosted by the House, at the cost of N130 million as well as the recent retreat for members in Kano and Akwa Ibom states which gulped N270 million.

Secondly, the plot to impeach the officers seem to have some credibility. Melaye is committed to whatever he decides to do. He has thrown himself into his job as the chairman of the House Committee on Information and National Orientation, displaying high level of fearlessness in the discharge of his duties, especially as it relates to his oversight functions. Not many Nigerians will easily forget his role in the Etteh saga where his extreme loyalty to the former speaker pushed him into actions that attracted the derision of many people.

However, his negative aura in the House belies this performance. One only needs to be present at the House’s plenary session to note the negative reactions from other members whenever he contributes to debates. One would think he has never been really forgiven for daring to stick to Etteh during the crisis.

Others would savour the unfolding events and goad him on behind the scenes, hoping he succeeds, as this, according to them, will trigger some desired wider changes in the legislature. Previous attempts at organising a rebellion against the leadership were nipped in the bud, leading to some humiliating measures including the removal of those involved from their committee positions, stripping of privileges and in one instance, the suspension of a member for 14 legislative days.

Some would, therefore, hope that the Melaye-led coup could provide a veritable platform to initiate the process of exerting their pound of flesh on the leadership.