FEDERAL lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Monday described as
unfortunate President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment on the credibility of
the probes being conducted by the House during his Sunday’s media chat.
Stopping
short of saying they were disappointed in the President, the
legislators said Jonathan had been the “highest beneficiary” of the
House resolutions, hence the least they expected from him was to
encourage his ministers to respond to parliamentary inquiries.
The
President had said during his Presidential Media Chat that the House
was conducting politicised probes and that his petroleum resources
minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, had appeared before the lawmakers up
to 200 times.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public
Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, reacting to the President on Monday, said
the comment was “unfortunate, particularly coming from Mr. President.”
Mohammed
said Jonathan did not consider the House intervention as politicised
when he wanted to succeed his late boss, former President Umaru
Yar’Adua.
He said, “We recall the Doctrine of Necessity; this House contributed to his (Jonathan’s) stability in office.
“We
hold the office of Mr. President in high esteem, but it is unfortunate
that he said we conduct politicised probes. The House is about
accountability; Diezani has to appear before us because we cannot ask
questions in her absence.
“She has to come; she has to be accountable to the Nigerian people.
“As legislators, we are also accountable to our electorate.”
He
said the House could summon any member of the President’s cabinet,
including Alison-Madueke, “1000 times” if the legislators needed to do
so in the course of their investigation.
Mohammed said, “There is
no limit to the number of times a minister can appear before the House
for the purpose of accountability. There are many investigations or
issues being considered by the House.
“That a minister had
appeared before over a particular issue does not mean that when summoned
over a different subject, the minister cannot appear again.
“Besides,
on this issue of expenditure on jets, she (Diezani) has yet to appear
before the House; she has not appeared on the matter before.
“Therefore,
Mr. President should not use her previous appearances over entirely
different subjects, as an excuse for her refusal to answer questions in
respect of the expenditure on jets.”
Alison-Madueke has refused
to appear before the House Committee on Public Accounts probing the
N10bn she reportedly spent in two years to charter a private jet,
Challenger 850, for her trips.
Meanwhile, some Nigerians on
Monday reacted angrily to the President’s alleged attempt to cover up
Alison-Madueke and her counterpart in the interior ministry, Abba Moro,
during his Presidential Media Chat on Sunday night.
Jonathan, who
was asked to comment on the allegations of corrupt practices levelled
against some of his ministers, had said that nobody was above mistakes
and that if he were to be acting based on reports on each of them, “no
one will stay for more than six months in office.”
Also asked to
comment on the attempt by Allison – Madueke to use the court to stop her
proposed probe by the parliament, the President had said he was not
aware that the woman was in court.
Specifically Jonathan had
said, “I don’t think that the Minister of Petroleum Resources had gone
to court. I am not aware that she has gone to court to stop any
investigation”
But an Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Segun Williams, in
an interview on Monday, expressed disappointment at the reaction of the
President when the judge that allegedly gave the ex parte injunction,
said the order was not intended to stop the proposed probe of the
minister by the House.
He said, “How can the President said that
he was not aware that the petroleum minister had gone to court when the
judge that allegedly gave the ex parte motion claimed that he was
misquoted. The judge said his order was not to stop the probe and it was
reported in all the newspapers.”
He also noted that the
declaration by the President that he had contacted the Attorney –
General and Minister of Justice to look into the frequent invitations of
ministers by the National Assembly, was an attempt to shield his
cabinet members.
Williams noted that a declaration by Jonathan
that “the Minister of Petroleum Resources had appeared before the
parliament more than 200 times” was a clear indication that he was
having a special interest in the minister’s continued stay in his
cabinet.
A resident of the FCT, Alhaji Mohammed Ladan, expressed
disappointment at the failure of the President to mention the glaring
case of corruption against his Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro.
Ladan
said, “The President should have sacked the Interior minister or asked
him to resign instead of being given a fresh mandate to determine
foreigners who are illegally living in the country.”
http://www.punchng.com/news/reps-to-jonathan-diezani-must-appear-before-us/
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