SINCE the advent of this democratic dispensation in 1999, a constant stream of scandals has defined the image of the National Assembly in the eyes of Nigerians.From cases of outright bribery, to other crimes like certificate forgery, Nigeria's parliament has struggled unsuccessfully to shed it toga as an institution that seems very attractive to lawmakers with the talent for breaking laws. Below are some of the scandals that have rocked the National Assembly since 1999.Salisu BuhariSHORTLY after restoration of democracy in 1999, Nigerians were rudely awoken to the reality that the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Salisu Buhari had forged his certificate. The Speaker according to reports awarded himself a certificate of the University of Toronto, Canada, which he claimed to have attended. He was also acused of lying about his age. After much controversy that involved denials and counter accusations between the Speaker and a news magazine, the Speaker finally resigned and vacated his position.In addition, he was tried and convicted by the court for fraud and forgery and, sentenced to one-year imprisonment or an option of fine of 2000 Naira. Buhari was later given state pardon, but he soon went into political oblivion.The News had thoroughly researchedBuhari' s claims about his age, which was lower than what the constitution stipulated for the office he held; as well as put a lie to his claims to have attended the University of Toronto. Entitled 'The Crook in the House ', the story was on the cover edition of 12 July 1999. Nigerians were shocked by the sheer implications of the revelations. Other newspapers and magazines as well as human rights groups across the country enlisted in the moral crusade to get oust Buhari over the forgeries.At first, Buhari, on denied the charges by slamming a multi-million naira libel suit on The News, employing the services of Mr. Rotimi Williams. The drama however ended with his conviction, and a subsequent journey into the political wilderness.Evans EweremAFTER Salisu Buhari's ordeal, Senator Evan Enwerem found himself in the eye of the storm. Among others, he was accused of being an ex-convict, having being jailed abroad for stealing; document and age falsification and indictment for financial impropriety when he was on the board of the Nigerian Airports Authority in the second republic, as well as when he was governor of Imo State between 1992 and 1993 were some allegations the man had to deflect.He was eventually impeached by his colleagues in what seemed akin to a palace coup. Although Ewerem lost his position as senate president, he remained a member of the Senate House until the end of the first phase of the fourth republic in 2003.Chuba OkadigboTHE odious nature of events at the National Assembly continued when orator and political scientist, Chuba Okadigbo mounted the saddle as Senate President. Within a year, Okadigbo ran into troubled waters, as he was accused of embezzlement and misappropriation of National assembly funds.Among other misdeeds, Okadigbo was accused of financial impropriety including spending a whooping N75 million to buy Sallah rams for some senators. Simple mathematics implied that Okadigbo would have spent over N500, 000 to purchase a ram for each of the 109 senators. The impeachment by 81, to 11 votes on August 8, 2000 of Okadigbo as had a lot to do with media advocacy for a sanitised National Assembly.Although Nigerians had generally turned the heat on the National Assembly, which it accused of sundry misappropriation of funds, and for awarding themselves extravagant allowances, no serious allegation was levelled against Dr. Okadigbo until Senate itself in July 2000, set up the Idris Kuta panel to take a closer look at the award of contracts in the Senate between 4th June 1999 and 17th July 2000.Beginning from the stunning revelations of Alhaji Ibrahim Salim, clerk of the house at the Kuta Panel, the media consciously mainstreamed the issue.Interestingly, even after Dr. Okadigbo was indicted for spending an unauthorisedN30M to purchase cars and another N37.5M to furnish his official cars among other allegations of financial impropriety, he continued to maintain his innocence and threatening not to resign.At this point, especially following the release of the Kuta Panel report, pressure was piled on Okadigbo to vacate his office.Aldophus WabaraANOTHER mind-boggling corruption allegation shook the National Assembly under the leadership of Senator Adolphus Wabara. The Ministry of Education allegedly bribed the Education Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives with N54 million to enable them (committees) increase its budget. However, the greatest scandal that trailed the 1999/2003 legislative tenure was the budget for bribe scandal involving the then senate president, Adolphus Wabara.The scandal which eventually led to the abrupt resignation of Wabara followed the discovery that he had been involved in a N54 million scandal in which the Minister of Education, Fabian Osuji and some members of the Senate and House Committees on Education were reported to have benefited from the scam to beef up the budget of the ministry.Ibrahim Mantu/Jonathan ZwinginaIN October 2003, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el Rufai blew the lid on yet another bribery scandal. He alleged that in June 2003, after he was nominated for the ministerial job, he was approached by the then Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu and Senator Jonathan Zwingina to pay a bribe of N54 million to facilitate his clearance at the Senate screening. After series of denials, and a probe by the ethics committee of the upper house, the two senators were cleared for lack of concrete evidence from el Rufai.Iyabo Obasanjo BelloOBASANJO Bello was the Chairman of the Senate's Health Committee, and a member of the Security and Intelligence, Land Transport, Science & Technology, Education, National Planning, and Inter-Parliamentary Committees.In April 2008, Obasanjo-Bello came under investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) due to the investigations involving the Former Minister for Health and her minister for (state) Health, Prof. Adenike Grange, who was accused of embezzling public funds. The Ministry under Grange at the end of the financial year did not return all unspent funds to the government coffers. The amount was N300 million, which was allegedly, distributed among the Minister, her minister of state and top civil servants on the Senate and House Health Committee she chairs.The Minister and her deputy were forced to resign after returning their share of the money; they were later arrested and charged to court. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello refused to return her portion of this money, N10 million. She claimed that the nine members of her committee 'lobbied' for funds from the ministry they oversaw. She maintained this money was spent on a conference on capacity building some members of the health committee attended in Ghana. Although summoned, along with the minister and other civil servants, she refused to appear in court. A week later a high drama ensued when officials of the EFCC tried to arrest her at her home in the Maitama district of Abuja city, after several simultaneous stake outs by law enforcement officials that had her jumping over her fence to evade arrest by law enforcement officers.In December 2007 too, Obasanjo-Bello came under investigation by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) due to a dispute between her and Austrian firm M. Schneider GMBH and Co. The corporation claimed that Obasanjo-Bello used the alias 'Damilola Akinlawon' to sign a contract regarding the financing of a company; this newly-formed company was used to bid on '3.5 billion worth of energy-related contracts offered by the Presidency, with her father at the helm.Patricia EttehDESPITE making history as Nigeria's first female speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh, was hounded out of office over sundry allegations leveled against her and some principal officers of the house.In September 2007, she faced a committee of the house over accusations that she had authorised the spending of N628 million on renovations of her official residence and that of her deputy, and the purchase of 12 official cars. A vociferous campaign by the Integrity Group in the house eventually pushed her out of office. Patricia Etteh who was accused of inflating the renovation of her official residence to the tune of N628milliion.Dimeji BankoleBANKOLE took over the position of Speaker from Etteh, but he too soon became mired in the corruption related controversies.On June 13, 2011, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Bankole and Usman Bayero Nafada in court over a 17-count charge bordering on alleged misappropriation of N10 billion loans borrowed while they were in office as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.Herman HembeBEFORE the suspended Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh angrily exposed Herman Hembe's collection of allowances without traveling for a capacity building trip, the House of Rep member held sway as Chairman of the House Committee on capital market.Now however, Hembe, a former student activist is in court struggling to clear his name over sundry allegations of financial impropriety.Farouk LawanDURING the late-2007 corruption scandal that caused former Speaker of the House Patricia Etteh to resign, Lawan led the Integrity Group, an alliance of members of the House of Representatives opposed to Etteh. Many had been tipping Lawan for the governorship of Kano, but he soon ran into troubled waters. Lawan was made the chairman of the committee on fuel subsidy, after a nation-wide strike that shook the whole of Nigeria in January, 2012. Another scandal of collection of bribe arose from the probe and this led to the suspension of Farouk Lawan from the Lower House of Assembly. Farouk Lawan, a man who hitherto donned the toga of integrity was caught red handed and brought to public spectacle in a sting operation that saw him accepting around alleged $3 million as bribe from oil magnate, Femi Otedola. Lawan, it is alleged, had in his capacity as the Chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy, demanded and received $620, 000, as part payment of a $3million bribe to exonerate Femi Otedola and his companies from indictment in the investigations into the subsidy scam perpetrated by oil importers. In an earlier testimony, Hon. Lawan denied collecting a $620,000 fuel subsidy bribe from Mr. Otedola.In response to news reports circulating on the alleged bribe, Hon. Lawan, initially issued a statement denying his involvement in the scam. Barely 24 hours later, he reversed his earlier statement and admitted that he collected $620,000 from Mr. Otedola to expose him. He told journalists that he collected the money after Otedola approached him, adding that he informed the police and his colleagues about it.
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