New Nigerian Newspapers Online Edition

THE controversy surrounding the purchase of official cars for committee activities in the House of Representatives is no longer news, just as the allegations of underhand dealings in the price of the cars have been dragged into the public domain. Similarly, the reading public has been inundated with several unconfirmed and consequently discredited stories about concocted interrogation of principal officers of the House of Representatives starting with the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole.
This, among other things, has created an opening for more questions on matters of procedure on the part of the House of Representatives on one hand, and on sacrifice of ethics, professionalism and caution on the part of those who serve as vehicles for informing the public. Unfortunately, rather than informing, entertaining, educating, and sometimes positively persuading the public, some practitioners have turned themselves into platforms for outright misinformation and perhaps extortion.
The stories on the purchase of official cars keep being regurgitated and recycled in some newspapers despite the fact that the issues had for long been comprehensively addressed and closed. Unfortunately some of the authors dusting up the stories had followed up on the processes leading to the purchase of the cars on ground of their proximity to the House of Representatives, but have refused to be core professionals.
They failed to understand that the new leadership of the House under Bankole and his Deputy, Bayero Nafada, came on board in the heat of a controversy which consumed their predecessors and would not make similar mistakes on matters of contract.
The executive session of the House had adopted a resolution to mandate the management to buy utility vehicles for members and committee chairmen. The reason for the decision was to ensure that there was no controversy, favoritism or impropriety which will unduly mount pressure on the leadership of the House. The decision was also to ensure that there was transparency on ways contracts were awarded and executed by the House. Emerging fact suggests that former Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh never tampered with any contract funds for the renovation of her official quarters, but because some fifth columnists were at work, she had to give way to pressure. Similar fifth columnists might have been at work to distract the focus of the Bankole and Nafada-led leadership, but the difference this time is that the masterminds have been caught in the act and their intrigues exposed.
As clearly summed up by the Deputy Minority leader of the House, Suleiman Kawu in the wake of the renewed onslaught on the House, and as was subsequently corroborated by the Minority leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, the leadership of the House never partook in the purchase of the cars. It was part of the decision of the executive session to mandate the management to buy the cars and supply same to the House. That, exactly, was what was done.
Kawu said the leadership of the House and the plenary session never revisited the matter after the resolution of the executive session which mandated the management to buy the cars and supply same to the committees without the interference of the leadership or any principal officer.
“For clarification, no memo emanated from the leadership on the matter because there was no need to interfere unnecessarily with an issue that had already been settled at the executive session of the House. Besides, the records are clear and anybody can verify with the Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) which supplied the cars,” Kawu said.
“Neither the Speaker, his Deputy nor any principal officer of the House had anything to do with the purchase of the cars. The essence was to ensure that there was transparency and openness in the activities of the House of Representatives,” Kawu added.
Kawu said contrary to the report, no principal officer was involved in the processes leading to the purchase of the cars as was agreed on at the executive session of the House, adding that it will be unfortunate if undue allegations are made that is capable of undermining the peace and stability that is currently reigning in the House.
He said the House does not need distraction at this stage that it is making efforts to ensure that it focuses more on nation building by intensifying its oversight activities. He said the House needed to be encouraged to concentrate on making quality legislation that will better the lots of Nigerians, and make for the time lost in the calendar of the House.
To further discredit the stories of alleged underhand dealing in the purchase of the cars, the Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited (PAN) which supplied the cars has clarified that there was no fraud in the contract for the purchase of the cars.
According to an investigative report by the Punch newspapers of August 19, PAN’s Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr Toyin Akingbola confirmed that his company supplied a unit of 407 comfort Peugeot car to the House of Representatives at 6.2 million Naira, instead of the 5.2 million Naira which the cars were allegedly bought for. He said the contract for the cars was sealed in January 2008 while the vehicles were supplied a few weeks later.
According to Akingbola, as at January when the cars were ordered, the unit price of the Comfort car was 6.2 million Naira. He said the price has dropped with a current market price of 5.1 million Naira. He said the current unit price of premium ranged from N5.8 million and N6 million.
Punch also added another dimension to the story that two lawmakers who lost out in the bid to supply the cars reportedly began to query the price differentials of N1.1 million per unit totaling about 418 million Naira.
Determined to continue to embarrass the Speaker and his Deputy, mischievous consultants went ahead to write a fiction that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had quizzed Speaker Bankole in connection with the purchase of the cars and other corruption related issues. Embarrassed by the story, the EFCC swiftly issued a statement to deny the story. It said the visit of the EFCC on the Speaker was part organisational collaboration for maximum performance. This is sad for those who carried the story without confirmation.
The fifth columnist will not rest on their oars. They went ahead to sponsor a story that Masari’s men had been plotting to oust the Deputy Speaker, Nafada in preference to Hon Abdul Ningi who was former House Leader during the Masari-led leadership. To further expose the detractors and their cohorts, Abdul Ningi came out to deny the story and discredit the authors. He said if there was anything like a Masari group in the House, Usman Bayero will definitely be a member, adding that he nurses no ambition to dethrone Nafada as Deputy Speaker because it will be against the intension of God Almighty who restored his seat as a member of the House. Ningi said those peddling such stories were intent upon pitching him against the Deputy Speaker and that they did not mean well for him. He advised them not to drag him into any undue controversy that may not be in his interest.
The implication of publishing stories only to deny is that it gives the impression that journalists are blackmailers, and the consequence is that the public may no longer believe whatever they read on the pages of newspapers. It is important for media employers and association of practitioners to move quickly to save the all important profession of the pen from being rubbished by miscreants and those bereft of professional competence. Those practitioners who have exhibited clear professional bankruptcy, or trade off their profession for monetary gains at the expense of the identity of their employers must be called to order before they infect the profession with their acquired mischief and blackmail virus (AMBV).
The mischief makers failed to come to terms with the fact that one of the constant truths about life, which incidentally doubles as a tenet of journalistic practice, is that “facts are sacred, while comments are free.” When falsehood, embellished with personal opinion, sentiments or outright falsehood are dished out to the public in the guise of facts, then, public sensibilities are being abused. Secondly, the integrity of journalism, one of the most revered professions in the world, is being exposed to ridicule and hatred in the eyes of the public.
Musa is wrote in from Abuja.