A
lawmaker on Thursday protested the abusive language used against oil
businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola, by the Chairman of the House of
Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Mr. Gambo Musa.
The lawmaker, Simon Arabo from Kaduna
State, said that the purported abusive language used on Otedola had
brought the “image of the House to disrepute.”
Arabo also deplored the refusal of the
committee to hear Otedola’s testimony in public, arguing that there was
no section of the House rules which required that it must sit in secret.
Arabo’s protest on the floor forced the
presiding Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, to ask the Chief Whip of
the House, Mr. Isiaka Bawa, to investigate the matter and report back to
members.
The aggrieved lawmaker expressed concern
that the committee suddenly decided to sit in camera after the House
had already told Nigerians that the hearing would be in the open.
“The modus operandi of the committee is bringing the House into disrepute”, he stated.
The ethics panel had invited Otedola on
Tuesday to testify in the ongoing investigation into the $620,000
bribery allegation he made against the suspended Chairman, House
Committee on Monitoring of Subsidy Regime, Mr. Farouk Lawan.
Lawan had earlier testified before the
committee in camera but Otedola who appeared before the committee on
Tuesday declined to testify, submitting that he would only do so if the
session would be given a live television broadcast.
Reacting to the development, Musa had
said that Otedola was misguided not to testify before his committee. He
said the businessman was disrespectful and that his conduct was
“stupid.”
Otedola reacted on Wednesday, denying that he insulted the committee members.
On Thursday, however, Arabo told the
House that the approach adopted by the panel infringed on Otedola’s
privilege and advised the House to caution the panel.
According to him, the same committee
that earlier told Nigerians that it would sit in the open, should have
explained to them that it had changed its position before proceeding
with the investigation.
Arabo also observed that the comments of Musa after meeting Lawan portrayed him as biased.
He recalled the chairman saying that
Lawan gave “satisfactory answers” to the committee and could not
understand why in Otedola’s case, the answers were “stupid.”
“What will it cost the committee if
Otedola testifies in the open? There is nowhere in the House rules that
says that Otedola must be heard in secret,” he added.
Ruling on the matter before mandating
Bawa to investigate it, Ihedioha said that the House did not interfere
with the work of any committee.
He noted that committees were free to decide on how to conduct assignments referred to them.
“The House has nothing to hide,” he added.
The Chairman of the House Committee on
Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, had on Wednesday defended
the decision of the committee to conduct the investigation behind
closed doors.
Mohammed had argued that as an
institution, the House had its rules of engagement and would not allow
any individual to dictate to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading this article. If you enjoyed it, please click any of the buttons above to share it. You can also make your comment below.