By Tony Akowe, Abuja
House of Representatives members yesterday challenged the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, to prove its allegations that federal lawmakers have been duplicating constituency projects.
They threatened to sue the ICPC chair and accused the anti-graft body of portraying the National Assembly in bad light before Nigerians. They asked the commission to prove its allegations against them.
The lawmakers accused the ICPC boss of attempting to destroy the image of the legislature before the international community and make them to lose their hard-earned reputation.
They raised the concern, following a recent assertion by the ICPC chair that the lawmakers duplicate constituency projects.
Moving a motion of urgent public importance, John Dyegh (PDP, Benue), called the attention of the House to the unhealthy remarks by the ICPC chairman.
He quoted ICPC boss as saying that “Constituency Projects Tracking Group tracked 424 projects from 2015-2018 constituency projects between June and August 2019 across 12 states of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Kano, Kogi, Lagos, Osun and Sokoto, as well as the FCT. He accused lawmakers of duplicating of contracts, using the same description, same narrative, same amount, same location and awarded by the same agency”.
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Dyegh expressed concern that the submission was capable of pitting the National Assembly members against their constituents and also “portray us as thieves”.
He said: “The House is properly informed that this is a deliberate attempt to rubbish and ridicule this institution and portray it as not having credible persons.
“The House is worried that this is capable of destroying the image of the Nigerian legislature before the international community and making us lose respect which most of us earned even before coming to the National Assembly.
“Also aware that in most communities, the only Federal Government project or benefit they can point to is National Assembly members’ projects as we are down to the grassroots.”
He said that no court in Nigeria has passed any judgment “on this legislature or its members as thieves”, adding that “the ICPC chairman has no such right” to speak about the National Assembly members in the manner he did. He said that “if you say someone stole, you are saying he/she is a thief.”
Adopting the motion, the House urged the ICPC chair to prove his case beyond all reasonable doubts or be taken to court by the House.
The House also mandated its relevant committees to investigate the matter and report back for further legislative action.
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