Group files fresh petition against Bankole
A group, the Movement of Revolutionary Change (MRC), on Tuesday, filed a petition with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), urging it to investigate the former Speaker of the House of Representatives for alleged financial impropriety while in office.
It specifically asked the commission to probe the purchase of cars for House committee chairmen with about N2.3 billion, as well as office equipment.
Mr Bankole is currently in the custody of the EFCC, which arrested him on Sunday night over the controversial N10 billion loan he took while in office.
But in the petition signed by the MRC national coordinator, Babatope Babalobi, the group, which commended the commission for arresting Mr Bankole, urged it to also question the former Speaker over the purchase of the cars sometimes in 2008.
"We commend your commission for the arrest of the outgoing Speaker ofthe National Assembly, Mr Dimeji Bankole, over alleged financial impropriety.
"While still in your custody, we urge your commission to use the opportunity to investigate some other matters of financial mismanagement under his leadership, apart from the issue of the N10 billion, for which he was reportedly arrested," it said.
The group reminded the anti-graft body about media reports, which said that members of the sixth National Assembly gave themselves right to buy off 469 official cars and office equipment they used.
It also referred to reports which stated that the official cars, namely 360 units of Peugeot 407 cars and 109 units of Toyota Camry cars, as well as office equipment which were originally bought at inflated prices of N6.1 million each less than three years ago, were now being bought off by the national legislators at rock bottom prices of N850,000.00.
The group said the development contravenes the monetisation policy of the federal government, which the federal legislature is part of.
"We like to refer your commission to the federal government monetisation policy, as legalised by the provision of the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances etc) Act 2002 by virtue of which the federal legislators were not supposed to purchase official cars in the first instance, since their transport allowances had been monetised.
"We also refer to the alibi given by the leadership of the National Assembly at the time the inflated cars were being bought that the vehicles were meant for work of the committees of the National Assembly," it said.
While urging the EFCC to act swiftly on the petition, the MRC warned that it would be compelled to seek judicial intervention if it failed to receive a positive feedback from the commission.
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