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November 20, 2007
Leadership
(Abuja) - Immediate past speaker of
the House of Representatives, Ms.
Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, will in the
next few days be quizzed and charged
to court by the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC) as the commission
may have concluded investigation into
the allegations that led to her
forceful resignation together with her
deputy on October 30,2007.
This is coming
as the attorney-general of the
federation and minister of justice,
Mr. Michael Aoandoakaa, has applied
for a dismissal of the suit seeking
the prosecution of the former speaker
and her erstwhile deputy, Alhaji
Babangida Sa'idu Nguroje, who resigned
following a motion of impeachment
against them bordering on "gross
misconduct and incompetence"
concerning a N628 million contract for
the renovation of their official
residences and purchase of official
vehicles for principal officers of the
House.
Reliable sources
within the ICPC said the commission
has concluded arrangements to invite
Etteh either today or tomorrow and
thereafter arraign her before an Abuja
court before the end of the
week.LEADERSHIP also learnt yesterday
that details of the investigation into
the petition submitted against Etteh
before her resignation by members of
the Integrity Group may be made public
today by the ICPC preparatory to
charging her to court.
The petition
against Etteh is premised on the
findings of a nine-man committee which
indicted her in its 10 conclusions.
The committee had in its conclusion
stated that due process was not
completely followed in the award of
the contracts.
It submitted
that the tender for the award of the
contracts was not advertised as
required by law; no specific budgetary
provision was made for the renovation
and furnishing of the official
residences of the speaker and deputy
speaker in the 2007 budget, just as
there was no specific budgetary
provision for the purchase of vehicles
for principal officers in the 2007
budget.
Other
conclusions by the committee were that
"the procedure for award by the
Body of Principal officers on the July
12, 2007, shows major act of omission
and disregard for laid down procedure;
the memoranda for the award of
contracts presented at the meeting of
the Body of Principal officers on July
12, 2007 were raised before some of
the quotations for the jobs were
processed."
The David Idoko-led
panel also found out that "some
of the companies that sent quotations
were not registered with the Corporate
Affairs Commission (CAC). They
therefore lacked capacity to compete
for the contracts in question since
the law does not recognize them as
persons.
"All
quotations relating to the renovation
and furnishing contracts directed to
the office of the speaker and those
directed to the office of the clerk to
the National Assembly were first acted
upon by the Honourable Speaker for the
attention of the clerk to the National
Assembly directing him to
process".
It would be
recalled that the crisis in the House
reached a crescendo when Hon. KGB
Oguakwa moved a motion on the floor
calling for the impeachment of Etteh
and Nguroje.
But Nguroje
immediately turned in his resignation
letter while Etteh's close loyalists
advised her to resign too in order to
avoid impeachment. Her group, the Due
Process Group, led by Hon. Dino Melaye
(PDP, Kogi) and Hon. Ita Enang (PDP,
Akwa-Ibom), had argued that the Idoko
report did not indict the former
speaker because of the conclusion that
"due process was not completely
followed."
But the
Integrity Group, led by Hon. Farouk
Lawan (PDP, Kano), insisted that the
image of the lower chambers had been
soiled by the Idoko report and only
the easing out of Etteh would save the
House.
Etteh's
insistence to hang unto to the
position of speaker culminated in the
abrupt adjournment of the House a week
before her resignation and compelled
some members of the Integrity Group to
petition the ICPC to look into the
Idoko Report since a speaker does not
have any immunity from prosecution.
She will be the second former speaker
of the House to be arraigned in court.
It would be
recalled that the first speaker of the
Fourth Republic, Alhaji Salisu Buhari,
was charged and subsequently convicted
on charges of perjury and forgery. The
federal government has since pardoned
him.
In the
application filed before an Abuja High
Court, Aondoakaa contended that the
court lacked the jurisdiction to
compel his office, the EFCC and the
ICPC to prosecute Etteh for
corruption.
Two lawyers,
Charles Ogboli and Osuagwu Ugochukwu,
had approached the court seeking a
mandatory order directing Aondoakaa,
EFCC and the ICPC to prosecute Etteh
and Nguroje.
The lawyers
asked for an order of mandamus
compelling the anti-graft bodies to
investigate, arrest and prosecute the
duo for corruption, misappropriation
and criminal breach of trust.
They premised
their request on the alleged
complicity of the duo in the N628
million contract scam.
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