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Reps,
controversial cars and sundry matters
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.
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