The Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL), has called for\u00a0 the arrest of the Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, saying he was the mastermind of the Faruk Lawan\/Femi Otedola bribery scandal.<\/p>\n
It will be recalled that at the hearing that adopted the subsidy regime committee report, it was Ihedioha who insisted some lawmakers should not query the the decision of the committee to absolve former Accountant General, and Zenon Oil.<\/p>\n
PPIL’s\u00a0 President, Abdul Mahmud, who insisted\u00a0 Ihedioha has a case to answer said \u201cFor us, our responsibility is to expose the rotten bones and flesh masquerading as leaders of the House of Representatives,\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahmud said that his League\u2019s allegations against\u00a0 Ihedioha are set out in its petitions to the Special Task Force; Ethics and Privileges Committee of the House of Representatives; Independent Corrupt Practices Commission; and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission.<\/p>\n
According to PILL \u201cNo matter the positions of these individuals, it is in our national interest to use this opportunity the bribe saga avails us to cleanse the House and redeem its image for our collective good,\u201d the petition said.\u00a0 \u201cThe greatest failing of any August legislative body is for the citizenry not to repose confidence in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PILL’s petition includes the following conclusions:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That the bribery was coordinated by Mr. Ihedioha;
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That two members of the House: one member of the Ad Hoc Committee and one non-member, arranged contacts with oil marketers and collected bribes for Mr. Ihedioha;
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That contacts and collections took place at the home of a member of the House who is like Mr. Ihedioha is from Imo State; and
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That Mr. Ihedioha sat at the core bribe-receiving syndicate, with his accomplices (all sitting members of the House) operating from the margins.
\nDrawing attention to a variety of pertinent questions that need to be asked, PILL also called for, among others:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An immediate and unfettered inspection of the records of the proceedings of the Ad Hoc Committee and of the House, particularly the records of proceedings of the House on April18;
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An order of production to be served on Channels Television for the audio-visual clip posted on YouTube and titled, \u2018$3 million bribery: Farouk Lawan request removal of Otedola\u2019s company from fuel subsidy report\u2019;
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That PILL be allowed to serve interrogatories on the Special Task Force for Mr. Ihedioha and his other accomplices that PILL will name; and
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That Mr. Ihedioha be made to take a polygraph test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL), has called for\u00a0 the arrest of the Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, saying he was the mastermind of the Faruk Lawan\/Femi Otedola bribery scandal. It…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n