The House says it is yet to finish its own internal probe and also questioned the fact that Oteh is a board member of the EFCC
The House of Representatives has criticised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s trial of the suspended chairman and deputy of its Capital Market Committee on fraud allegations, when the House’s own probe was still in progress.
The House also questioned the motive of the EFCC to take up the case when Arunma Oteh, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who made the allegations, is a board member of the anti-graft agency.
Oteh had accused the suspended members of the House, Herman Hembe and Emeka Azubogu, of collecting travelling allowance of over N600,000 each from the commission for a conference in Dominican Republic, but failed to attend and did not refund the money.
In a series of dramatic allegations that forced the resignation of the two lawmakers, Oteh also accused them of asking for N44million bribe from the commission.
The EFCC stepped in after the House ordered an investigation. The first court appearance on May 17 was adjourned to May 28 on account of non appearance of the second accused, Azubogu.
Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media, Victor Ogene, said the court action was hasty and did not reflect fairness.
“It is an open knowledge that SEC is a member of the board of the EFCC, so when there was a matter that involved the SEC, why would it be the EFCC that will jump into it?” he asked. “Even if the EFCC were to jump in, there were issues and they had not been resolved, there was no report. When an issue is ongoing, it is proper for one arm to complete its work before another starts.”
Ogene also said the two accused lawmakers only stepped down from the committee, but remained the substantive chairman and deputy respectively.
On former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s comments suggesting that the National Assembly was filled with “armed robbers and rogues”, Ogene said the former president only sought relevance.
The House Ethics Committee has been mandated to probe the comments, and the spokesperson said that did not necessarily imply Obasanjo will be asked to appear before the committee.
“If there are two groups of people he shows disdain for, it is the journalists and the legislature; except now if the reports we are reading are true, then we can add the judiciary and the police,” he said. “I think the former president Olusegun Obasanjo is in search of some relevance and he thinks the way to go about it is taking potshots at the legislators.”
