AS the cat and mouse game between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello continues, her colleagues at the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly has asked her to surrender to the anti-graft agency.
The House of Representatives which made the call yesterday asked the Senator to stop hiding as her going underground and her refusal to submit herself to the EFCC might embarrass the legislature.
The chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Eziuche Ubani, who stated the position of the chamber at a press conference in the National Assembly, Abuja also expressed concern over the inability of the speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole to get official accommodation after five months in office.
Ubani said that since the law establishing the Commission was made by the National Assembly it would send a wrong signal to the outside world that even lawmakers do not obey laws made by them.
He added that Obasanjo-Bello, being wanted by the EFCC does not amount to guilt of the allegation of misappropriation of N10 million stressing that there were instances where the Commission had invited some people and discharged them after they had cleared themselves.
He further said that the fact that some people from the executive arm of the government were already being prosecuted over the matter made it compelling for the Senator to appear before the EFCC and clear her name as lawmakers have no immunity in such matters.
‘Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello should endeavour to appear before the EFCC. The whole thing is giving the National Assembly a bad name. It creates the impression that we don’t obey the laws made by ourselves. The law establishing EFCC was made by the National Assembly and therefore, the lawmakers ought to show the example by appearing before the agency any time they are invited, particularly when some people from the executive are facing trial over the matter’, he said.
“As a lawmaker, it is an obligation for her to appear and save us the drama. The invitation extended to her by EFCC does not mean she is guilty in any way. Let her go and clear her name and by extension name of the National Assembly. We have seen situations where some persons were invited by the agency and later asked to go. The drama is making us uncomfortable and we want this drama to end”.
Ubani also spoke on members of the House Committee on Health who were said to have benefited from the N300m saga saying that the position of the chamber still remained that no lawmaker has immunity in that regard.
He said the members were willing to make themselves available any time the agency wanted them, adding that the law should be allowed to take its course. According to him, if Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello was wanted in accordance with the law and she refused to obey, ‘the court should issue a warrant of arrest’.
He also expressed the House of Representatives unhappiness that that no provision was made for the official residence of the Speaker in the 2008 budget.
According to him, since the speaker, Dimeji Bankole assumed office about five months ago, he has been staying in his private residence because the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) had taken over the former official residence of the speaker and the deputy in Apo Legislators’ Quarters in Abuja. He therefore, said “the House wants the issue of official accommodation for the Honourable speaker sorted out as soon as possible for him to have a comfortable place and concentrate on his work.’.
Ubani also spoke on the resolution passed by the House inviting the Agriculture Minister, Abba Sayyid Ruma to explain government’s plan for food security in the country.
He said the lawmakers were not comfortable with the statements coming from the executive to the effect that the country did not have grain and wheat reserves wondering what had gone wrong with the money budgeted for such purpose every year.
“If we don’t have those reserves, we have been budgeting for them every year, we have been building silos. What this means is that there will be further increase in the prices of food items’, he remarked.
Ubani also said that lifting of the ban on importation of such food items would affect the revenue projections in the 2008 budget and therefore, should not be allowed. He assured that that the bill on prison reforms which the House Committee on Internal Affairs would be passed expeditiously within the week.
Obasanjo-Bello, it would be recalled claimed that she was afraid for her life hence her staying away from the EFCC.
The eldest daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo had reportedly told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) last Wednesday that she was not on the run but running for her life.
“I am not on the run, but I feel as I’m a victim of harassment… I’m afraid for my life,” she reportedly told the BBC.
Her comment to the BBC came after the EFCC had laid siege to her Abuja residence.
Obasanjo-Bello’s colleague at the Senate after noticing her absence for two consecutive days had also called on her to surrender to the EFCC.