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Shortly after the death of Umaru Yar’adua, his
predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as president on May 6,
2010, . Over the past 100 days, President

Jonathan has announced some policies, appointed officials and set up committees.

Some of the most notable policies made were the
banking reforms, the appointment of new Independent Electoral
Commissioners and their chairman, and the banning–and unbanning–of
the national football team, the Super Eagles.

He had banned the team from playing in any
international matches for two years, following their poor performance
at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but also reversed the ban before
a deadline set by FIFA for the reversal, elapsed. He further took steps
to clean up the country’s football by dissolving the board of the
Nigeria Football Federation, and also ordered an audit of the finances
of the World Cup project.

Mr Jonathan has also clocked several air miles
through trips to several countries, as both the leader of Nigeria and
that of ECOWAS. He also made history as the first Nigerian leader to
embrace social networking as a tool of governance, with a popular page
on Facebook. The signing of the Management Corporation of Nigeria
(AMCON) Bill into law, during his tenure, is a major aspect of a reform
which has had a huge impact on the banks and the entire economy.

But some Nigerians said the reforms have left some
out in the cold. An Abuja based policy analyst, Chukwuemeka Obi, said
“many bank heads fell prey and ever since, we have been expecting that
government will give them a chance to defend themselves, before totally
branding them negatively. As it now stands, people cannot even borrow
or if they do, it is at a very exorbitant interest rate. Not much has
been happening. There is just so much to do and a 100 days is just not
time enough to justify his performance.”

Citizens’ rating

Nwankwo Nnaemeka, an environmental consultant who
also lives in Abuja, rates Mr Jonathan a whopping 75 per cent. “He has
done more of politiking than the real thing, which is giving him the
popularity. So far, so good. He has done surface changes, which have
helped improve his popularity. Like the ministerial changes, INEC and
NCC. We are yet to see real deep rooted sustainable changes. However, I
rate him 75 per cent.”

Audu Khark, a banker, said: “I think he is still
trying to find his feet. For me, he hasn’t done much but I think the
best he has done is maintain stability in the political system. His
worst is kidnap of journalists, which goes to show that security under
him is still very slack.”

But more than anything, Mr Jonathan’s 100 days in office have been
dogged by public debates of whether or not he should contest for the
presidency in 2011.

South-east politicians have
cancelled their political summit, following what it called the peaceful
resolution of the zoning debate.

The South-East Political Summit
was planned to express their position on zoning of the presidential
candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2011
presidential election. However, the conveners called it off on Friday,
after the party declared its stance on the zoning debate on Thursday.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu, who is also the promoter of the summit, said the meeting
was no longer necessary, adding that they support the resolution of the
party.

“The resolution of the zoning
argument in the PDP has made the planned South East Political Summit
scheduled for August 16, unnecessary,” he said.

Support for decision

“It is noteworthy that, on access
to the presidency of this country, the South-south has been the least
favoured,” the Deputy Senate President said. “This is the first time
that somebody from the South-south is reaching that position after 50
years of nationhood.

“On the account of the peculiar
circumstance of the Jonathan presidency, there is need to carry along
all parts of the country by giving access to the highest position in
the land. And giving the contribution of the South-south geopolitical
zone to the economy of the country, the PDP NEC’s decision should be
viewed from this perspective,” he said.

“Nigeria has in the past addressed
similar injustices, like the June 12 which gave rise to the national
consensus on the South-west presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo.” The
deputy Senate President also made case for an Igbo president in future,
saying that, like the South-south, the South-east has presided over
Nigeria for only six months.

“I hope that at the appropriate
time, this point will be noted by the entire country with a view to
addressing the injustice and concede the presidential slot to the
South-east,” he said. “This sense of fairness, equity and justice is a
sure foundation for peace and progress in this country. I urge
Nigerians to support this peace initiative.”

One voice

He also advocated unity and
cohesion in the zone, saying, “Time has come for the South-east to
speak with one voice and for all the stakeholders to work in unison, in
the overall interest of the people of the South-east.

“South-east in the past has worked and contributed immensely to the
unity and progress of this country as a major component of the nation
and will never shy away from that commitment. Working together, we can
build an enviable nation in spite of our diversity. We must all be
prepared to make sacrifices and show understanding,” he said.

The Action Congress
of Nigeria leaders said yesterday that the party is no longer a mere
opposition party, but has “moved on to become a government in waiting.”

The party also
described as mere “wishful thinking”, the statement credited to
Goodluck Jonathan that the opposition has conceded the presidency to
the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2011 general elections.

Mr Jonathan had,
while speaking with journalists at the end of the PDP National
Executive Council meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, said PDP members
will work together because what happens in the party happens in the
whole country.

He said that the
zoning debate was even being spearheaded more by non-PDP members. “In
fact, they have already conceded the presidency to us. Otherwise, they
have no business coming to join our own debate. That means that they
have already known that the PDP will produce the president of this
country but they want us to do it well,” President Jonathan said.

But the Action
Congress, through a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its
spokesman, Lai Mohammed, said Mr Jonathan’s overly-exultant statement
revealed that he might have mistaken the parties that joined the PDP in
the Government of National Unity, for the real opposition. He added
that the ACN considers Mr Jonathan’s statement nothing but subtle
blackmail. “But we take solace in the fact that Nigerians have rejected
the do-nothing PDP, as they (PDP) will realise in 2011. A party that
cannot resolve its problems amicably cannot be expected to provide good
governance at any level.

“The ambivalent resolution that was cobbled together at the PDP NEC
meeting in Abuja on Thursday has further shown the confusion that is
reigning supreme in the PDP. In one breath, they endorsed zoning and,
in another, they said anyone can run. This deliberate ambiguity is the
devil’s alternative for the PDP, and will sound the death knell of the
disappearing behemoth next year,” he said.

Farida Waziri, the
EFCC Chairperson, said on Friday that she was not under pressure from
any quarters to drop any case under investigation.

She also debunked
the allegation of shoddy handling of the prosecution of the former
Delta State governor, James Ibori, claiming that Mr Ibori was in
hospital in Dubai, and promised that the commission was working with
the Metropolitan Police to extradite him to the UK for trial.

Mrs Waziri said
that her purported sack and alleged shoddy handling of the prosecution
of Mr Ibori as well as the non-investigation of the Siemens bribery
scandal and the petition filed by some lawmakers against the leadership
of the National Assembly, were mere faceless publications. “Each time I
travel outside the country, I receive a sack letter in those soft-sell
newspapers, those kinds of junk newspapers, and in the minds of
faceless and narrow-minded cowards.

“If you really have
a story or an issue, you know where to go. If the leadership of EFCC is
not equal to the task, you know where to take up the matter.

“Bring out your
facts and figures, and we will confront each other. You don’t go
behind. We know the people behind the allegations,” she said.

Mrs Waziri said
that there had been a lot of obsession with the leadership of the EFCC,
because the 2011 elections were fast approaching. She advised the
public to discountenance such reports, saying, “They are not to be
taken seriously.”

The EFCC
Chairperson also announced that the commission was almost concluding
investigations into the Siemens bribery scandal. “The investigation is
not easy because Siemens AG has transferred some of those involved to
Germany and dismissed them. These are the witnesses to sustain the
trial, but we are not deterred.

“We are going to do
some prosecution; nothing will be swept under the carpet. And the same
goes for the petition submitted by some members of the National
Assembly,” she added, explaining that EFCC’s investigations were kept
discrete in order not to cause embarrassment to anyone before trial
commences.

The Lagos State
governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday said that the state has
employed 300 additional sweepers to clean its waterways.

Mr Fashola
announced this at the opening of the 2010 Street Sweepers Workshop
organised by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the
Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

The governor also
presented wheelchairs to 10 physically challenged persons, out of the
25 engaged to sweep some of the pedestrian bridges in the metropolis.

The two-day workshop, which ends on Friday, has as its theme, “Cleaner Lagos, safety first”.

Mr Fashola
explained that the offshore sweepers would complement the over 10,000
street sweepers in the state, saying they were icons of change.

“You are critical
contributors to the improvement of our lives and healthy living and are
as important as doctors and nurses,” he said.

He said that various experts had been contracted to deliver papers on safety, a sign that the state government cared for them.

Mr Fashola also
presented certificates of performance, grinding machines and generating
sets to the best 10 sweepers in the state.

Ola Oresanya, the
Managing Director of LAWMA, said that 57 street sweepers lost their
lives in accidents along the highways since the inception of the
service in 2007.

“Health and safety
of lives on the roads have been the greatest challenges being faced by
the sweepers and that is why we have decided to focus on safety first
in this two-day workshop,” he said.

Last Thursday,
Attahiru Jega finally got his wish. The INEC boss was all smiles after
both chambers of the National Assembly approved the INEC budget at
N87.7bn.

A NEXT investigation can reveal, however, that this figure has been vastly inflated.

Aside from the
controversial N13.7bn, which was tacked on at the last minute as a
“profit margin,” other figures in the budget have also come under close
scrutiny. The largest purchase items on the budget are the Direct Data
Capture machines, which the new INEC chief has repeatedly stated will
cost exactly $2000.

The data machines
are intended to be used for registering voters and conducting the
elections. The machines are not single units but a composite which
include: a fingerprint scanner, a high resolution camera, a backup
power pack, an integrated printer and a laptop.

Cheaper alternatives

NEXT contacted
various international suppliers of the aforementioned components and
the highest quotation for the combined total was no more than $1134. A
Digita Persona fingerprint scanner costs $58.76 a unit. A 20.0 USB
Webcam costs no more than $11.98 a piece. A 14” Dual Core Laptop with a
320GB hardrive can be obtained for $525.77. A 16-24V Power Battery
backup which offers uninterruptible power supply can be bought for
$170.62. Finally, a top of the range Canon BJC-85 Portable Colour
Bubble Jet printer is available for $367.37.

The total cost for
all of these items is $1134.50, almost $900 cheaper than the stated
$2000. In naira terms this equates to a differential of N16.2bn.

Kayodu Idowu, Mr Jega’s media aide, said that the specifications of the required components were very sophisticated.

“The specifications
for the machines are designed to ensure durability,” he said. “We have
to ensure that these machines have value and as such they are long term
investments.” He added that he was not at liberty to disclose the exact
specifications but that all interested parties could find out directly
from the electoral commission.

Supplier palaver

However, according
to a source close to the procurement process, the high cost of the data
capture machines indicates that INEC did not explore different options
when preparing their budget. The source added that a Bangladeshi firm,
which was initially detailed to handle the bulk of the supply, has been
frozen out by other interested parties.

“The contract for these machines alone is being handled by over 10 different suppliers,” the source said.

“They (INEC) have
divided the supply into three streams: data integration, hardware and
software supply. Due process was not followed, talk less of the public
procurement act. The most capable, one company that managed the data of
almost 100 million voters in Bangladesh, was not even considered.

“Now, some of the
approved suppliers are going back to them because they don’t know how
to execute the contract.” Mr Idowu denied that the identity of the
suppliers had been finalised by INEC.

“We are still
deliberating on various applications and no name has been finalised,”
he said. “Time is a key factor, yes, but we have to engage with
reputable suppliers.”

Keeping it local

One of the local
companies bidding to supply electronic voting material agrees that INEC
could save much more money by looking inwards. Nigerian communications
satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Ltd claims that the commission could save almost
N20 billion if it used its locally designed smart cards to capture
biometric data.

Ahmed Rufai, the
company’s managing director, said, “With our proposal, each voter’s
card would have an in-built smart card which would hold all the
information required for registration and voting.

“The machines they
want to import are nothing more than metal boxes. Instead of sending
out all that money to develop other economies, why not explore local
solutions that can offer the same or better value?” Mr Rufai added that
aside from initial meetings, there has been no further contact from the
commission.

“We are working
with a consortium of local hardware manufacturers. We made our proposal
over two weeks ago and the chairman vowed to come and visit our
premises. So far, that has not happened.”

Repaying excess

An INEC official
said that the issue of excessive costs was irrelevant at this stage
because the commission would refund any surplus money.

“The reason you may say these costs are high is because of time,” the source said.

“Therefore, in the
interest of time, we needed to move quickly. Our calculations had to go
for the upper limit rather than going back with our begging bowl in
case we ran out of money.

“Besides, the chairman has already given assurance that all extra
monies appropriated to the commission would be refunded to the
treasury. If at the end of the day, the chairman does not deliver, then
you can start questioning the amount spent. This is a transparent
process and will be tracked all the way.”

The
federal government may soon roll-out punitive measures against senior
civil servants who abstained from writing last Monday’s competence and
promotion pre-qualification examination organised by the Office of the
Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

The examination was
conducted at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, for senior
civil servants on Grade Levels 14 to 16, otherwise referred to as the
directorate cadre.

Investigations
carried out in Abuja during the week showed that the government was not
happy with the widespread condemnation and boycott of the examination
orchestrated and spearheaded by the Association of Senior Civil
Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN). A senior official at the Head of Service’s
office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the
government views the abstention as a clear case of the insubordination
and indiscipline that it has been trying to tackle in the public sector
service.

He said a
far-reaching government decision is in the offing, no thanks to the
angry reactions from most of the senior civil servants who wrote the
examination, and who have accused the Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Steve Oronsaye, of disrespecting the court case filed by
the ASCSN.

The judge handling
the case, however, threw it out last Wednesday, saying further hearing
on it is useless as the test had already taken place. David Okorowo,
the judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, struck out a motion seeking
to stop the test but consequently adjourned the substantive suit to
October 22 for hearing.

Mr Oronsaye is said
to be reviewing the exercise and all the issues surrounding the
boycott. A senior official in his office said that if the federal
government goes ahead with its plan to sanction the absentees, it could
result in outright sack, suspension, or non-promotion of all those that
would be identified.

The Chief Press Secretary to Mr Oronsaye, Tope Ajakaiye, confirms this.

“The civil service
has rules and regulations,” he said. “This (body of rules and
regulations) is what is called Public Service Rules. There is a
procedure for seeking redress if a civil servant feels his or her case
was not fairly treated. But what they did is obviously wrong. For every
act of indiscipline in the civil service, there is a sanction. At the
right time, they will be sanctioned. Do not forget that the Federal
Government of Nigeria issued the directive that they disobeyed. I can
assure you that they will be sanctioned at the right time.” Mr
Ajakaiye, who did not state the particular punishment the government
will mete out, explained that over 3000 civil servants actually sat for
the examination. He said the process witnessed no ugly incident,
whatsoever.

Widespread condemnation

Some civil servants who sat for the test were, however, unimpressed with its handling.

A Director in a
government parastatal, who didn’t want to be identified, said, “The
examination is the worst exam the public service could be subjected to.
The training has no bearing whatsoever with the kind of questions we
were asked to answer. Essentially, the questions were meant to be
applied to the training organised to meet those kinds of questions. For
instance, the training I attended, which was the first batch, we never
had course materials. Even after our training, the exam did not take
place until after six months. There were others who finished
immediately and went for the test. I am sure they are the ones that
will be lucky to pass.

“If officers are to
be subjected to this kind of test, there should be a procedure, maybe a
handbook, a textbook in which you know where you concentrate and pass.

A situation in
which an exam is prepared so that people can fail from the beginning, I
do not think is good for this country. That man (Oronsaye) may have a
good idea but the implementation is very horrible.” Another participant
at the test, a female Assistant Director, said she took the test
against her will in order not to risk sudden termination of her job.

Legal protection

Public sector
experts say the federal government may take some time before
sanctioning the absentees because a wait-and-see position was necessary
in respect of the court case.

According to legal
experts, one possible means such senior civil servants could take to
protect their jobs is to explore the full options of respite provided
by the laws of the land.

Asked what impact
the court case could have on the examination, especially as it has
already been conducted, Mr Ajakaiye said the Head of Service was not
aware of any case in court against him or his office.

“A court case
usually involves two or parties, each of which must be properly served
with the court papers. As at now, we are not aware of any court case
that has been instituted by any group. As I am talking to you right
now, the HOS has not been served any notice.” About 104 plaintiffs
filed the suit, challenging the directive from the HOS Office
compelling them to write a competence examination. Apart from the HOS,
the other defendants are: the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC)
and the Attorney-General of the Federation, who is also the Minister of
Justice.

The plaintiffs are
arguing that their promotion to the next directorate cadre is vested in
the Federal Civil Service Commission, the 2nd defendant, as provided in
the relevant sections of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic and not in the Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, the first defendant.

The FCSC, which
could not be reached for official reaction to the test as at the time
of going to press, has remained silent on the examination.

Commenting on the discipline displayed by those who defied the rains
to write the examination, Mr Oronsaye said, “It is interesting that
while the association was calling up people not to register for the
test, many of its members actually turned out to register. Here, they
have written the test.”

The Falconents
definitely conquered in Germany, and the women in Nigeria decided to
rub in the failure of our senior national team, the super chickens,
through their elaborate celebration of our girls who we, in the spirit
of patriotism, agree are all under 20.

Here in Abuja,
where the Falconets were warmly received by the Ministers of Women
Affairs and Education, amongst other dignitaries, girls were recently
banned from one of the oldest trades in the world: ashawo, opio,
prostitution or commercial sex work. The FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed,
was kind enough to extend some form of amnesty to those girls who are
willing to give up the trade and, like the militants in the Niger
Delta, submit their weapons of mass destruction, distraction or
attraction and take up new noble trades of hairdressing, tailoring and
others.

The women were
apparently banned from only their nocturnal activities, because the
mandate to arrest them only holds for those low class ones who stand in
different corners of Abuja at night to wait for their customers. Law
enforcement officers were empowered to arrest both the traders and the
buyers when caught in the act of peddling, which might be a bit
difficult to prove, unless the he-goat is caught directly on top of the
she-goat. Even at that, it might be hard to prove that the girl is not
a girlfriend or even wife, with our popular Abuja marriage where young
men and even old men and ladies live together on credit; that is,
without carrying out the normal traditional marriage rites.

However, since men
have learnt to shoot without missing, the birds have learnt to fly
without perching. The operations of the night girls have continued
unabated, with the help of GSM technology. One call and the customers
know where, when and how to meet. More recently, though, the dress
culture of our youth has muddled up the waters. It is very difficult to
tell a street girls from a supposedly well brought up girl on our
streets, with about 70 per cent of our women revealing body parts as
their style of dressing.

This, dear reader,
is the drift of my script. The number of ‘indecent dressers’ have since
multiplied 10-fold in Abuja. I watched some ladies on national
television talking about women’s right and one of them, while answering
the question of the presenter as it concerns indecent dressing, said,
“Women should be allowed to dress the way they like”.

Stealing is their style

Every ordered and
dignified society that wants to genuinely progress and be reckoned with
does not allow its people to dress the way they like. Even in America
where people are mostly free to do the things they like, there are some
restrictions in the dress culture of the youth in certain universities.

Have we not seen
what happens to a people who talk the way they like? Sleep the way they
like or drink the way they like? You cannot even laugh or eat the way
you like once you are outside your home. So, if you dress the way you
like, you should be prepared to reap the consequences. Our society is
already bedevilled with men who steal and loot the way they like, and
some women want to support them by dressing the way they like?

It is the thunder that announces to the blind that it is going to
rain. If these kinds of women are not stopped from talking the way they
like on national television, it might take earthquakes, tsunamis and
wild bush fires to announce to us our impending doom. Let those who
have ears hear.

Aderemi
Banjo, the protem national chairman of the Mega Progressive Peoples’
Party, on his plan for the party and how he intends to defeat the PDP
in next year’s election. Excerpts:

Vision for the party

I was formerly in
Alliance for Democracy (AD). I contested in 2007 as a House of
Representatives member and I have been a functionary during the time. I
am going to my 40s and I believe that the politics we have now is for
the Generation Next.

So I am optimistic
that the vibrant youth of today will have a role to play in building a
future that we desire of our tomorrow. That is why we are sensitizing
the youth on how to manage their roles. We don’t want them to be
deceived and disenfranchised, and we don’t want their voters’ cards to
be used against their future by giving them money and robbing them of
the future. With all this, we will be sure that there will be people
whose votes will count in the 2011 election.

Challenges ahead of the party

One of the
challenges I foresee now is the task ahead of us. Like I said, I am
determined that we will stand against the tyrant Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) and another thing is how we are going to mobilize people
into our party, to come on board. Also, to mobilize people for the next
voters registration so that they can participate in electing people
into governance themselves. You know that without a good structure and
a good platform, there is no way to have good governance and those are
the challenges that we are set to face.

Vision for the future

I can see a bright
future; I mean the kind of future that America had. You understand, we
want to be innovative because we can’t afford to put round pegs in
square holes again. We want a situation where individuals can begin to
start asking for their rights. So, the youth are supposed to be the
ones that have information for the next generation and if I can
recollect, in 1978, Obasanjo was addressing some group of youth and he
told them that “you are the leader of tomorrow” and an average youth
even right since then was supposed to be above or around 30 years old.
Now, imagine those people that are called the leaders have, however,
not portrayed themselves as true leaders.

Obasanjo that
encouraged the youth years ago, later turned around and wanted a third
term in office, while the youth were all around the streets looking for
jobs. Then when is it that the tomorrow will come and when are those
leaders he referred to then taking over?

Assessment of Lagos state

For now, we want to
build on what every other person has done, and not to condemn. We know
we can do better, considering the likes of the progressive elements we
have brought together. We can reason together as one Nigeria without
been dictated to. So that is what I think.

Whatever they are
doing now in Lagos, the assessment is not really a means to affect or
influence us, but to serve as a basis for the delivery of our promises
on bringing quality leadership to the doorsteps of all Nigerians.

Godfathers in politics

I have leaders in
politics. They were before me, but no one is a godfather to a visionary
mind and I can promise you that Mega Progressive Peoples Party leaders
are capable minds that have earned legacy and if you look at the
members of the executive of the party, then you will know that when it
comes to the Mega Party, it is a progressive party and the issue of
leadership is what we know and there is no room for godfatherism.

The 469 members of
the Senate and House of Representatives are frustrating the
anti-corruption effort of the federal government, Emmanuel Ayoola, the
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offences commission (ICPC) said recently.

Out of the N2
trillion recurrent expenditure in the 2010 budget, N138 billion is
meant for the National Assembly – some 6.6 per cent of the budget. Only
two ministries: Defense and Education, have a higher recurrent
expenditure.

The lawmakers were
recently involved in a war of words with former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo, who ruled the country for eight years, accused
the lawmakers of corrupt activities, including beefing up the budget
proposal of the presidency so as to have personal gains. The minority
leader of the House of Representative, Mohammed Ndume, who did not deny
that the legislators were corrupt, accused the former president of
breeding corruption while in office, including giving “N50 million each
to members of this House to extend his tenure.” Though Mr Ndume made
the statement in public at a media briefing, anti-corruption agencies
appear unwilling to investigate the allegations.

Femi Babafemi, the
spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
denied the commission’s knowledge of Mr Ndume’s statement. “I am not
aware of it,” he said; while Folu Olamiti, the spokesperson of the
ICPC, was non-committal.

Human rights
lawyers and anti-corruption crusaders say the agencies would have
failed to perform their duties if the allegation is not investigated.

“The EFCC cannot
just sit down as a lame duck and say they are not aware. EFCC cannot
wash off its hands like Pontius Pilate and say they have not received a
petition and are not aware of it,” said Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based
human rights lawyer. “Now that this man has come publicly to say this
actually happened, it is the duty of the EFCC to say, ‘Mr Lawmaker,
come forward. Come and give us a statement’, and then commence
investigations.”

Olanrewaju Suraj of
the Movement Against Corruption (MAC), believes Mr Ndume’s statement is
a confirmation of a widely held opinion. “The guy is just making a
confirmation of what we have said actually happened during the madness
of this tenure elongation thing,” Mr Suraj said. “Except the EFCC is
also shying away from its duties and responsibilities, investigations
can be commenced immediately. We need to know where those monies were
gotten from.” However, the ICPC, whose chairman, Emmanuel Ayoola,
stated last week that they would commence investigation on the
allowances of the legislators based on Mr Obasanjo’s accusation,
explained that the legislators were also hindering his commission’s
efforts.

Frustrating fight

Mr Ayoola explained
that, for three years, the National Assembly has failed to pass a law
that would make his commission’s work easier. The existing ICPC act
prescribes that the commission can only begin corruption investigations
when it receives a petition on the alleged crime.

“The National
Assembly has been dealing with the amendment of the ICPC act, in which
is put an express provision permitting us to be proactive. That has
been on for the past three years,” Mr Ayoola stated. “We’ve gone for
public hearings in the Senate; we’ve gone for public hearings in the
House. We’ve submitted our memorandum, but up till now, the amendment
has not been passed.” However Mr Ogunye, who stated his utmost respect
for the ICPC chairman, disagreed with him.

“The delay (in
passing the amendments) may be because members of the National Assembly
themselves are corrupt. I would rather act and wait for the court to
then say that you cannot act because you don’t have a petition to
commence investigations,” Mr Ogunye stated.

Efforts to get the two chambers of the National Assembly’s reactions were unsuccessful.

Ayogu Eze, the
Senate spokesman’s telephone was switched off, while Eseme Eyiboh, the
spokesman of the House of Representatives, did not answer our telephone
calls.

Though Mr Ayoola
claims that the commission is already finding “ways and means of
breaking out of the limitation,” and that no Nigerian is being treated
as a sacred cow, investigations show that federal lawmakers may be
enjoying a break.

For instance,
Dimeji Bankole, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has not
once been invited for questioning by any of the agencies, despite
various allegations levied against him.

Missing Report

Farida Waziri, the
EFCC chairperson, told journalists on June 7, that her commission has
sent a report of its investigations into the N2.3billion Peugeot car
scandal involving the leadership of the House of Representatives, to
the presidency. Mr Jonathan, through his spokesman, has denied the
claim. Yet, the commission has kept mum on the report.

When asked on the
status of the report, Mr Babafemi said, “I don’t know.” Anti corruption
fighters, however, condemn the EFCC’s position on the report.

“Submitting a report to the presidency already shows that they
either don’t have a case that they want to pursue or there have been
some underhand dealings that is also connected with them,” Mr Suraj
said. “There is no immunity for the Speaker, where we can say they are
hiding under immunity or they have been barred by immunity for the
Speaker.”