The disunity in the House of Representatives boiled over again on Tuesday when a matter that should ordinarily receive the overwhelming support of all members was sacrificed on the altar of politics. It was the controversial $9.3m Nigerian tax payers’ money that was seized by the authorities in South Africa on September 5, 2014.

It is no longer news that on that fateful day (September 5), a Challenger 600 jet from Nigeria landed at the Lanseria International Airport, north-west Johannesburg, allegedly conveying the money in three suit cases.

Three persons, including two Nigerians and an Israeli, were in custody of the money when officials in South Africa arrested them and seized the cash. They were later to reveal that the huge cash of about N1.5bn was meant for the procurement of arms for the Nigerian Intelligence Services.

Following the international attention and criticism the cash movement generated, the Federal Government later owned up to having knowledge of the transaction. It did not end there. The House of Representatives, particularly members of the opposition All Progressives Congress, wanted the transaction thoroughly investigated.

Thus, last Tuesday, the mantle fell on the legislature’s Deputy Minority Leader, Mr. Suleiman Abdulrahman-Kawu, a member of the APC from Kano State, to raise the issue on matters of urgent public importance.
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