The house of representatives says it cannot stop Gudaji
Kazaure, one of its members, from going on with his “mandate” to investigate
the alleged mismanagement or embezzlement of N89.09 trillion stamp duty funds.
Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives,
spoke with state house correspondents after a private meeting with President
Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Tuesday.
Kazaure, who said he is also the secretary of the
presidential committee on the reconciliation and recovery of all stamp duties,
had accused administration officials of “cover-ups” in the investigation of the
funds.
But the presidency dismissed allegations, describing them as
“false”.
Speaking on the issue, Gbajabiamila said Kazaure’s alleged
assignment as member of an executive committee was independent of the house of
representatives.
He said the house can only interfere in the matter if
Kazaure impugns on the integrity of its members.
“Kazaure, from my understanding, is working with whoever
he’s working with. If it necessitates the house coming in, we will come in. If
he has an official function, he should go ahead and do his work,” the speaker
said.
Gbajabiamila further noted that Kazaure’s allegations
against administrative officials did not originate from the national assembly.
“This has nothing to do with the national assembly. Not that
I know of. It was not based on a resolution of the national assembly. It was
not based on a motion from the national assembly, I believe he said he had the
executive authority to do what he’s doing. If that be the case, I mean, then
it’s got nothing to do with the national assembly,” he said.
“Well, the house can only call Kazaure to order to the
extent that he is impugning on the integrity of the house or individuals or
leadership of the house that have nothing to do with what he’s doing.
“I think it’s important to separate the two, if he has a
mandate to do something, that’s on him. When it came up, we had asked members
of the executive but they said they were not aware of any mandate or such
mandate has been withdrawn.
“I don’t want to get
into it except to the extent that he tries to impugn on the integrity of
members of the house. And that’s a no no, we have nothing to do with this.”
REPS TO PASS 2023
BUDGET ON THURSDAY
Meanwhile, the speaker also disclosed that the 2023 budget
proposal of N20.5 trillion will be passed on Thursday.
Gbajabiamila said he visited the villa to speak with Buhari
on pressing national issues including the cashless policy controversy, 2023
elections, security issues as well as felicitate with him over his recent 80th
birthday celebration.
On the activities of the house for next year, Gbajabiamila
pointed out that they would soon round up the year’s session and go on break to
campaign for the elections.
“We’re going to be rounding up our session. And of course,
you know, when we resume in January, it’s going to be just barely five weeks
before elections,” he explained.
“So, it’s probably
going to have very little time to sit, with maybe about a week to 10 days
before we all go for campaigns and elections.
“In that one week to 10 days, we intend to cram in a lot.
For now, We’re going to pass the budget on Thursday.
“Hopefully, when we
come back in January, we’ll do some house cleaning matters.”
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