Ahead of today’s
resumption of the House of Representatives from the Christmas and New Year
holidays, fresh plot to impeach the Speaker, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has
filled the Chamber. Coordinated by a group, Transparency Network, the new move
against the Speaker is over the allegation of fraud in the award of contract
for the supply of 400 Toyota Camry 2012 model cars.
Some of the
vehicles have already been delivered and distributed to members for committee
assignments. The plot may have also been as a result of a rumour that the
leadership of the House plans to shuffle chairmanship of standing committees.
Similar moves against Tambuwal were foiled last year. Those who masterminded
the plots claimed being starved of funds as a result of the House’s rift with
the Presidency. The chamber later dissociated itself from the move and passed a
vote of confidence on Tambuwal.
Similar vote of
confidence was also passed on the Speaker after the Presidency was alleged to
have moved against Tambuwal, following the Farouk Lawan bribery scandal that
rocked the House. The Presidency later denied the claim that it plotted against
the speaker. If the plan goes ahead, it would be a repeat of previous attempts
where Speakers will be accused of siphoning funds meant for the lawmakers.
Recall that a former member of the House, Dino Melaye, and his group of
self-styled progressives, had accused the former Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, of
corruption in the purchase of cars worth N2.3 billion in 2008 as well as buying
special vehicles worth N335 million for the leadership of the lower chamber of
the National Assembly.
In the current
plot to remove the Speaker, Daily Sun gathered that members of the Transparency
Network, led by a lawmaker from Borno State (names withheld), with the prompting
of some personnel in the Presidency, have been holding meetings since last
Thursday with the main objective of initiating impeachment process against
Tambuwal upon the resumption of the House. A member of the House from Bauchi
State, who did not want to be named, and who was part of the meeting held at a
five-star hotel in Abuja last weekend, told our reporters that already, a
committee had been set up by the aggrieved members to fine-tune strategies
ahead of the resumption of the House today.
On why he is
revealing what transpired in their meetings, some positions taken by those
championing the new cause were unclear, a situation he said made, at least,
seven of the lawmakers to question the motive. He also claimed that it was
discovered that the leadership of the group was doing the bidding of some
unnamed interests. He said: “We have since realised that the ultimate aim was
to destabilise the leadership of the House for some sinister motives.” However,
when contacted, a principal officer of the House, who did not want his name
mentioned, exonerated the Speaker from the allegation, claiming that the
leadership had no business with the purchase of cars. He said: “If you recall
last year, we passed a resolution, distancing ourselves from all contracts in
the House.
We reaffirmed
that only the management of the National Assembly is empowered by law to issue
contracts and since then, we have had nothing to do with such issues. To us,
this is no issue at all. The issue of cars is not new to us, you know it was
the bone of contention during the sixth Assembly where the former Speaker
Dimeji Bankole, had issue with the purchase of Peugeot cars for the members.
With that experience in mind, we have decided we won’t go there at all.”
Source:
Sun
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