Members of the House of Representatives cutting across the six geographical zones yesterday gave the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, seven days to resign, or be disgraced out of office.

The representatives who call themselves the ‘progressives,' said at a press conference in Abuja that Mr Bankole's leadership is corrupt, inept and high-handed. Armed with what they claimed were incriminating documents, the lawmakers said Mr Bankole's leadership led to an unprecedented rift between both arms of the National Assembly and brought the House to disrepute.

Members of the group include: Dino Melaye (PDP, Kogi); George Daika (PDP, Plateau); Bitrus Kaze (PDP, Plateau); Austin Nwachukwu (PDP, Imo); Ehiogie West Idahosa, Anas Adamu (PDP, Jigawa); and Independence Ogunewe (PDP, Imo). Others are Solomon Awhinawhi (PDP, Delta); Ralph Okeke (PDP, Anambra); Darlington Okereke (PDP, Ebonyi); and Asita Honourable (PDP, Rivers).

A Litany of Complaints

"We hereby, therefore, in strong terms call on Bankole to resign immediately as the speaker of the representatives within 7 days," said Mr Melaye, who spoke for the group. "We are asking him to resign for the following reasons: one, corruption in leadership; two, because of his leadership style, which today is responsible for the rift, disagreement, and disharmony between the two brothers in the National Assembly, the Senate and the Reps. The relationship between the two has never been this bad.

Three, we are also asking him to resign because of his high handedness, disrespect for members; four, his frequent breach of the rules of the House; five, his sweeping and unsubstantiated comments capable of causing disaffection among the various arms of government."

He said the speaker had once openly accused civil servants and the civil service of gross corruption, but failed to substantiate the claims when the then head of service, Ama Pepple, challenged him on the allegations.

"And I want to say that, failure to comply with our call in the interest of the Nigeria and Nigerians, especially the masses of this country, this group has overwhelming evidence, information, everything you see here, they are incriminating records that we will publish, give to you the media, and assure you in seven days, we are going to write a petition that every member including the ones on recess will sign, physically, personally and we will send it to the EFCC, the ICPC, the NSA, the SSS and indeed, the headquarters of his political party."

Bad Publicity

Mr Melaye, said under the leadership of Mr Bankole, the sterling qualities, which the House exhibited since 1999, have been lost, stressing that the public perception of the lower chamber has declined.

"We are here this afternoon to unequivocally say without fear of favour, that the House of Representatives, you read about in 1999; the House of Representatives that West Idahosa was a member of; the House of Representatives in 2000; the House of Representatives with its sterling qualities exhibited during (Ghali) Na'Abba; the House of Representatives that was laboriously built by (Aminu) Masari, is not the same today," he said.

"The public perception of the House has ingloriously declined. We used to be the pacesetters of legislative practice in this country, but it is obvious that we have been overtaken because of the ineptitude of leadership (and) because of all these negative manifestations, the House under Bankole has nose-dived and has lost its earned positive reputation."

No Child Play

Asked if the group will not, like in the past, back down on its demand that Mr Bankole should go, Mr Melaye said, "This is no child play. We have resolved to clean our House. We have resolved and are determined that he who comes to equity must come with cleans hands. And we have resolved that these evidence will be given to each of you and we are ready to defend it anywhere and anytime.

This is not a secret presentation. We are very, very sure of the facts. These documents are incontrovertible."

He said even though Mr Bankole will as usual say that the documents are fake, they intend to challenge him to produce the original.

Collaborating Mr Melaye's claims, Mr Idahosa (PDP Edo state), said the House has never had it so bad in the last 10 years.

"Many of you know that when we talk about the history of the House, I have the privilege of writing the rules together with my colleagues in 1999," he said. "And thereafter, I have served (Salisu) Buhari, Na'Abba, Masari (Patricia) Etteh, and I will say, I have the misfortune of serving in this era. We have never had it so bad. We have never had such a legislative tyranny as we do have now. We have never in this House turned our Ethics and Privileges Committee into a hunting machine of fellow members.''

‘Ostrich Display'

In a swift reaction to the demand for Mr Bankole's resignation, the House leadership said Mr Melaye and his group misled the perceptive public with their proverbial ‘ostrich display' by masquerading selfish tendencies for public interest.

"Their activities could best be a swan song but they are advised to avail themselves with the allowances of House rules and extant provisions of the relevant statues," said House spokesperson, Eseme Eyiboh, in the statement. "The present leadership is a creature and creation of the generality of the House and the prevalent synergy culminating in the successful constitution review vindicates the acceptability of the leadership. Those ‘progressives' should vacate their theatre or be absolved and come to join other discernible members to complement the current legislative engagements for executive action."

By Festus Owete and Ini Ekott
As culled from 234next.

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