As the debate on the David Idoko-led panel report on the N628m contracts scam in the House of Representatives begins on Tuesday (today), some members of the South-West Caucus have withrawn their support for the Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Etteh.
The aggrieved lawmakers, drawn from the Peoples Democratic Party and the Action Congress in the House, said Etteh must step aside since justice demands that “no one shall be a judge in his or her own case.”
The Speaker’s trouble was further compounded by similar calls on Monday by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, and the AC.
The panel had in its report said that due process was not followed by the Speaker and the National Assembly management in the award of the contracts for the renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy, Alhaji Babangida Nguroje.
But the findings of the panel drew different interpretations from the pro and anti-Etteh camps.
The South-West Caucus said in a statement made available to our correspondents in Abuja and Lagos on Monday, that Etteh needed to vacate her position in the interest of the Yoruba and the House.
The statement reads, “We, members of the South-West Caucus of the House of Representatives, having reviewed the events in the House vis-a-vis the feelings of the country at large in the last few weeks over the ongoing contracts scandal, We note that:
“The Honourable Speaker has not held any dialogue with the members from South-West Caucus since the N628m scandal broke out.
“The Idoko-led panel report is out and submitted to the House for consideration.
“Consequent upon the above, we hereby resolve that the Honourable Speaker, Hon. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, should please step aside to allow fair consideration of the report in line with due process and universal convention requirement. In the interest of equity and justice, no one shall be a judge in his/her own case.”
It was gathered that the caucus reached the decision to ask Etteh to step aside at a meeting in Abuja on Sunday night.
Our correspondents learnt that the Speaker called a meeting of the caucus at about 4pm on Monday shortly after she got wind of the lawmakers’ position.
But at about 6pm on Monday, another statement from another set of members of the caucus, said they remained loyal to the Speaker.
They described as misleading, the earlier statement by some members of the caucus as ‘fallacious.’
They said, “Our attention has been drawn to a misleading, fallacious, spurious and unsigned statement claiming that South-West Representatives want Etteh to resign. Nothing can be farther from the truth. We South-West members will like to reiterate that we are solidly behind the Speaker.
“We are loyal members of this House and the PDP. Unfortunately out of desperation those who are persecuting Etteh are stopping at nothing in their bid to distort the issues and disrupt the smooth running of the House. Madam Speaker remains the Speaker.”
From the United Kingdom where he is undergoing medical treatment, Fawehinmi issued a statement demanding that Etteh must step aside.
In the statement, which was emailed to one of our correspondents, he argued that the Speaker should resign, irrespective of the outcome of the debate.
The activist lawyer advised that if Etteh ‘chooses the path of stubborn perfidy, which characterises the behaviour of our corrupt politicians, the members of the House should remove her.’
According to him, the Speaker’s removal will be ‘in the interest of constitutional order and morality as well as dignity and respectability of the office.’
Fawehinmi, who recounted similar incidents involving former Presidents of the Senate, the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo and Chief Adolphus Wabara, reminded members of the House that party loyalty should not come into play in the consideration of the report.
He said that there was a serious moral disconnect between the House and the ordinary Nigerians, who they represented.
The SAN argued that rather than represent, advance and protect the cause of Nigerians who elected them, the scandal had shown the selfish interest of politicians.
Fawehinmi said, “When for the first time the United States had a woman Speaker of its House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, her first duty in the first one month of taking office was to address national and international issues, including the Iraqi problem and medicare for the poor and other masses-oriented programmes of the American people.
“What a far cry from the attitude of our own first woman Speaker, Mrs. Etteh.
“The Idoko panel report has confirmed the mess, the corruption and the abuse of office perpetrated by some members of the House of Representatives, including the Speaker.
“What has happened flagrantly negates Section 15(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which provides that ‘the government shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.’
“It must be pointed out that she cannot sit as a Speaker for the consideration of the report. To do so, she will be compounding her moral degeneracy in this matter”.
Also, the AC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that Etteh’s resignation would not only stall crisis in the House but also give the nation‘s democracy a chance to survive.
It said that Etteh should quit now to preserve the office of the Speaker and salvage whatever was left of her integrity.
The AC argued that the PDP needed not entertain any fear because with its overwhelming control of the House, no new Speaker would emerge without its backing.
It said, “We wonder why the PDP is bent on sinking with Etteh at all costs. Is there no other credible candidate for the post in the entire House? Or is the PDP confirming our worst fears that men and women of integrity have taken flight from it (PDP)?
“Why must our hard-earned democracy, watered by the blood of many patriots, go down with Etteh or the PDP? What is so special about this woman that even when she has been indicted by a panel populated by her party members, the party insists on sticking to her at all costs?
“For the sake of posterity, and in the interest of all that is fair, Etteh should resign today and save the House an unprecedented acrimony, which will take years to resolve.
“She should take a cue from former Speaker Salisu Buhari, who quit the stage when he was enmeshed in a scandal. Today, the gentleman has been rehabilitated.”
The AC said Etteh’s continued stay in office would taint her tenure forever and throw the House into a deep crisis.
It said, “The longer she continues in the position of Speaker, the more she harms her own credibility and that of the House, which was once hailed as a bastion of democracy in our country.
“No matter the deceit being foisted on her by her so-called supporters, every step taken by Mrs. Etteh henceforth will be dogged by the scandal. The House today has lost credibility under her.
“She should heed the advice of well-meaning Nigerians, including women leaders, and step down. Tomorrow is too late.”
Sources, however, said that pro-Etteh camps still insisted on Monday that the Speaker would not resign.
They said that she would walk into the chamber and put a question to members for the Idoko report to be debated.
The pro-Etteh lawmakers, according to them, would say ‘no’, after which the Speaker would hit the gavel to seal the deal.
But the Integrity Group, the body spearheading the drive to remove the Speaker, continued its meeting as at 5pm on Monday to finetune its strategies.
Members of the Akwa Ibom State Caucus in the House also met to take a final decision on the matter.
A member of the caucus, Mr. Ita Enang, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, who confirmed the meeting, said they were in support of Etteh.
