House of Reps members, ‘There is God o’

Fellow Nigerians, by now you should be able to establish the fact that the outpouring accusations and counter-allegations on the shady deals rocking our dear Fatherland by the political practitioners in the Lower Chamber is predestined. As postulated in my previous commentaries, the issues unveiled so far can’t be compared with what is yet to unfold through major players and their supporters in the next few weeks, quote me! There are yet tingling stories to be made public by the erstwhile Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin in his 40th birthday memoir barely a month from now. So, I plead with you to watch earnestly for the roll-out except if the ‘unforeseen’ happens, which I pray does not. But never bother to ask me what I meant by the ”unforeseen’. What started manifesting in the past few days was the replica of the Biblical story summarily called “the hands of Esau and the voice of Jacob.” I recall that the defence raised by the House spokesman, Abdulrasak Namdas to justify the removal of Jibrin received serious bashing from contemporaries from the ‘Transparency Group’, who claimed to have garnered about 113 signatures to press home the demand for fairness, equity and justice and all parties named in the scandal should directly or through their respective Media Team(s), not House Committee on Media and Publicity; give their own side of the stories. They specifically dissociated themselves from the clean health bill on the financial scandal given to Mr. Speaker, Yakubu Dogara. The group, which claimed to be playing the neutral role, warned the House spokesman to desist from relegating his office as the Chairman House Committee on Media and Publicity as a result of the scandal, rather allow the occupant of the office of the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan who has put in well over a decade into journalism practice in Nigeria and more than eight years in the National Assembly to justify the pay. I see the argument as a reasonable submission and the need for separation of power and office between the House spokesman and SA Media to Mr. Speaker.

Where will the budget padding pendulum swing to next, fellow Nigerians?

The episodic drama expected to play out in the next few weeks will feature sponsorship of various State Caucuses that will be playing ‘pros’ and ‘antis’ in the unprecedented ‘toga’ between the Speaker, his deputy, Yussuff Lasun; Ado Doguwa, Chief Whip and Leo Ogor, Minority Leader. But the objective warning issued by the Transparency Group should be strictly adhered to by those accused by Jibrin in the crisis. Let those accused defend themselves on personal ground without dragging the entire House into it.

Like I earlier admonished penultimate week, millions of educated and privileged Nigerians cannot afford to fold their hands or stay aloof and allow the few privileged politicians appropriate our common wealth as reflected in the Appropriations Act. Even the Gombe caucus, (perceived to be the second sponsored group), admitted that the bogus allocations to the office of the Speaker and other leadership cadres are traditional. The case is not different from other political appointees including Ministers and heads of various agencies and parastatals, not to talk of happenings at the state and local government levels. For the Transparency Group, whose slogan is no retreat no surrender like Jibrin, subtle move by another bigwig lawmaker who also claimed to be mediating to dissuade them from heating up the polity, played ’emissary role’ for those named among the leadership cadre. Of course, Femi Gbajabiamila, Majority Leader who allegedly got the allocation of N1.8 billion worth of constituency projects though without making input, is yet to make any public statement on the saga. Someone asked the dazing question about the clearance given to him by Jibrin that the quartet allocated the sum to him, but why didn’t he reject it if he’s not a party to the entire process? This I can’t respond to so that I won’t be falling into the same ditch like Uncle Namdas! But time will surely tell, who is telling the truth and who the culprit is! My take is that, House of Representatives’ claim that the issue will be handled internally is unacceptable as there are strong tendencies of compromise and predictable outcome of the internal investigation to be conducted by “employees of the Speaker,” as alleged by the Transparency Group.

As predicted ahead of now, nine members of the House Committee on Appropriations led by Chris Azubogu finally surfaced and presented an unsigned statement to condemn and embrace Jibrin. For me, the team had no clear position before going public. Imagine a group of lawmakers who via statement accused Jibrin of “unilaterally high-jacking the entire budget to a hideout with his consultant without the consent of the Committee,” within few minutes saying such act was not criminal and adopted same controversial budget?

That position further put a question mark on the calibre of people in whose hands the fate of over 180 million Nigerians has been committed to. Nigerians, are we going to sit down and watch our destiny being mortgaged by the few? Anyway, my consolation aligns with the submission of the former First Lady of Nigeria, ‘There is God o’!