Power probe panel member denies receiving bribe

Bola Badmus, Abuja - 25.07.2008

HOUSE of Representatives member, Honourable Ajibola Muraina, has denied that he took part in the N100 million alleged bribe reported to have been given to the Committee on Power and Steel that probed the $16 billion expended by the Obasanjo administration on the power sector between 1999 and 2007.

Hon. Muraina, who is representing Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North Federal Constituency of Oyo State and a member of the committee, said the report published by a weekly magazine regarding the bribery allegation was not true as he was not aware that bribe of any form was offered by anybody to his committee during the tour of Port- Harcourt.

Besides, the lawmaker said it was wrong for the magazine to have given a blanket condemnation or allegation against anybody or group of people without any concrete evidence to back it up, pointing out that the magazine, which made the allegation, should have gone ahead to publish the names of the persons who gave the bribe and those who received it.

Muraina, who maintained that he did not receive any bribe, even as he said the committee members who went to power projects’ sites did not make a stopover at the Naval Base or Port- Harcourt Airport as reported by the magazine, said he had already instructed his lawyers to take appropriate action against the management of the magazine.

“It is unfair for Tell Magazine to just give a blanket condemnation. They should not attempt to destroy my name that I have built over the years,” the politician said.

He said the probe of the power sector was an issue many Nigerians treated with a lot of passion, adding that it was a known fact that the Committee on Power and Steel did a good work because it touched on the collective integrity of the House of Representatives and that of members of the committee.