After hours of secret talks on Thursday, members of the House of Representatives dropped a plan to investigate the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, over fresh allegations of corruption. Mr Bankole’s opponent in the House, Dino Melaye, along with other lawmakers had alleged that the speaker drew loans amounting to about N10 billion from the chamber’s official banker, the United Bank for Africa, without authorisation.

Thus, funds meant for the members’ quarterly pay, as they end their four-year tenure, were trapped by the bank in lieu of the credit drawn without their knowledge, the lawmakers said. The speaker was also accused of mismanaging funds due to be paid to the 11 members, led by Mr Melaye, who were suspended last year after calling for the probe of the speaker for allegedly misappropriating N9 billion of the house’ capital votes.

However, the speaker and his supporters were able to pacify the incensed colleagues yesterday after a pledge to ensure payment of all allowances owed to members.

The House, presided over by Mr Bankole himself, denied claims that the speaker secured the loan and ruled that the speaker’s ‘graphic explanation,’ given yesterday behind closed doors, was satisfactory.

“There is no financial mess in the house. There is a clear appreciation that there was no loan taken,” Ita Enang, chairman of the House Business and Rules committee, told reporters hours after the end of a closed session held to consider the concerns of the lawmakers.

Mr Enang, who denied that loans were taken by the speaker, said any issue that arose, including the delay in the payment of members, was a “domestic banking operation between the bank and its customer,” which the leadership of the house was working to resolve.

Promise of payment

Some lawmakers, however, said Mr Bankole was again spared after he appealed to the aggrieved members and offered to clear their unpaid allowances, which had accumulated for months.

The monies are to be financed from other budget subheads since the appropriated sum had been used, they said, a day after members overwhelmingly passed an uncommon resolution seeking to suspend the speaker.

Dramatically, the motion was dropped yesterday after the meeting and many lawmakers evaded questions from journalists who had thronged the chambers to witness the inquiry.

The brazen decision, conforming to a well-known house tradition in which legislators shy away from probing graft charges against its leadership, was widely expected although a few dissenting members dissociated themselves from the resolution.

It would also appear to be a fitting end to the complex financial controversies that have engulfed the lower chamber for years, as it rounds up the present session on June 4.

Some lawmakers, who did not want to be named, said the speaker admitted to taking the loan, but said it was done in 2009 and had subsequently been rolled into fresh budgets.

As Mr Bankole leaves the chamber, having lost his reelection, it is not yet clear how the amount owed to the bank will be fully settled.

‘No evil will go unpunished’

After the sitting, Mr Melaye, whose motion on Wednesday detailing the financial wrongdoings of Mr Bankole, won enough support to back his call for the speaker’s suspension, said, “I insist that no evil will go unpunished.” Mr Melaye shunned a scheduled media briefing where he was supposed to appear with Mr Enang, saying “light and darkness can have nothing in common.” Sticking together Mr Bankole has been a key figure in almost all allegations of corruption that have erupted in the house. Shortly after taking seat in 2007 – after the ouster of Patricia Etteh on similar controversy – the speaker was named in an alleged car purchase scam involving over N2.9bn.

A promised probe of power projects handled by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration was also aborted, while indictments against top officials were reversed.

The new allegations, touching on the remuneration of members – many of whom lost reelection bids – appeared set to upturn the usual camaraderie, as many members openly backed calls for the speaker’s sanction on Wednesday. The unprecedented house resolution urged the speaker to without fail, address the allegations on Thursday by 10 am.

But with his hands crossed behind, Mr Bankole strode into a waiting chamber at 11.11am, unusually offering no hand shake as he reached the rostrum. He promptly convened a closed session against loud protest from some members and, hours later, announced that “satisfactory explanations” were given and members’ allowances were being “executed.” Asked why the lawmakers capitulated, Ehigie West –Idahosa, from Edo State said the members recognized the need to complete their term ‘amiably.’


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5699875-146/story.csp

The matter has been swept under the carpet, Nigerian style. 10 billion naira is certainly enough to go round. All that huffing and puffing was simply to make sure not only Bankole takes home the booty.

wales:

The matter has been swept under the carpet, Nigerian style. 10 billion naira is certainly enough to go round. All that huffing and puffing was simply to make sure not only Bankole takes home the booty.

Very true

Why would the house of reps take a loan?What was it used for?where is EFCC and ICPC?

Did Dino Melaye get re-elected into the house? I recollect he decamped to ANPP for the election proper.

Crime as usual. Nigeria will continue to deceive themselves by forming EFCC, ICPC, code of conduct bureau, etc to fight crime.

We have a lot of crimes you don't even need to investigate but is swept underground. We are still the most corrupt country in the world. No amount of rebranding can change this. All we need is fight for our liberation.

meexteriox:

Did Dino Melaye get re-elected into the house? I recollect he decamped to ANPP for the election proper.

Dino lost, sad indeed