CSOs ask EFCC, ICPC to probe Reps committee over bribery scandal

The 39-member committee of the House, set up to investigate job racketeering in MDAs is allegedly extorting money from the agencies.

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Some anti-corruption advocates have called on anti-graft agencies to probe the members of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee allegedly involved in extorting money from ministries, departments and agencies under the guise of investigating job racketeering.

They made the call in separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday.

The 39-member committee, set up to investigate job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies, has ironically been exposed for allegedly engaging in an extortion ring.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the committee demanded and collected money from tertiary institutions in exchange for a “soft landing”.

Trust deficit

The call for the involvement of anti-graft agencies is coming against the backdrop of the lukewarm attitude of the House to the corruption in its committee.

The lower chamber had on Tuesday promised to investigate the rot in its committee. However, the reaction from the House has been seen by many as more of knee-jerk.

In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Akin Rotimi (APC, Ekiti), the House said it would investigate while also defending the lawmakers in the same breath.

Its Committee on Ethics and Privilege is saddled with the responsibility of investigating the misconduct of members of the House.

However, according to the standing order of the House, the committee cannot probe any member unless a resolution of the House says so.

Order 18 rule (3 (7b)), gives the committee the power to investigate “any alleged violation by a member of the Code of Conduct or of any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such member and after notice and hearing, to recommend to the House by resolution or otherwise, such action as the Committee may deem appropriate in the circumstances;

Rule three (7c) further provides that the committee has the power to “report to the appropriate Federal or State authorities, with the approval of the House, any substantial evidence of a violation by a member of any law applicable in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, which may have been disclosed in a Committee investigation.”

However, the committee cannot commence a probe of any lawmaker unless a complaint is filed and approved by the majority of the members during plenary.

“(a) No resolution, report, recommendation or advisory opinion relating to the conduct of a member shall be made by the Committee on Ethics and Privileges and no investigation of such conduct shall be undertaken by such Committee unless approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Committee.”

With the House on break, Nigerians may have to wait till the resumption of the lawmakers to see any action taken.

Call for EFCC, ICPC to intervene

The Chief Executive Officer of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the law enforcement agencies also have the power to investigate the members of the Committee and its members and be prosecuted if found wanting.

He said ordinarily there would not have been any need to call for an investigation by anti-graft agencies because the House Committee on Ethics and Privilege should be saddled with the responsibility of investigating the members of the committee but that there is a big trust deficit in the legislature as an institution.

“The National Assembly has built a notoriety and bad image for itself. Ordinarily, a House Committee is supposed to operate like a court of law. In other jurisdictions, House Committees are very powerful,” Mr Onwubiko told PREMIUM TIMES.

Olanrewaju Suraj, chairman of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), said the PREMIUM TIMES report provided evidence to back what Nigerians have long been suspecting about lawmakers using investigative hearings to negotiate “share of the national cake.”

Mr Suraj said the civil societies in Nigeria must demand the investigation and prosecution of the lawmakers involved in the bribery scandal.

He said the anti-corruption agencies should use the information provided by the report to trace the flow of the money in the account.

“It is also a welcome development because we have known for quite a while that many of those our honourable and those our members of the parliament are in the habit of convening public hearings and investigations, to the extent of not only correcting the anomalies but getting their own share of the cake or in the worst case, cementing the infraction of the public officials,” he said.

The anti-corruption activist further stated that the investigation must extend to the agencies that paid money into the bank accounts provided by the lawmakers.

He further stated that in every corruption case, there are givers and takers, noting that coercion is not an excuse to give bribes.

“Yes, I mean the law does not only deal with the receiver of the bribe but deals with the giver and the receiver. The investigation would have to cover that. It is not expected for anybody, even under any form of coercion to have gone ahead to give a bribe. They are expected to report to the law enforcement agencies, who would have given them either marked money or assisted them in tracing the flow of that money for the purpose of arresting the culprits,” he said.

Eze Onyekpere, the executive director of the Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), said the oversight function of the legislature excludes the power to demand bribes, but because the victims of extortion are often violators of the law, it makes it easy for the lawmakers to engage in “sharing of loots.”

He said anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) must work with journalists to investigate the agencies.

“It has become imperative for targeted victims of extortion to resist their oppressors. The power and duty of oversight excludes the power to demand gratification. The challenge most of the time is that the victims may have violated provisions of the law or mismanaged public resources,” Mr Onyekpere told PREMIUM TIMES via phone.

He added: “The oversight, therefore, becomes an opportunity to “share the loot” with the legislators. Investigative journalists should try and follow these stories to get the actual facts and expose and shame corrupt public officers.

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“It is expected that investigative journalists should collaborate with anti-corruption agencies,” he said.