Muraino, fellow MPs clash at hearings

Members of the House of Representatives yesterday shouted down their colleague Representative Muraino Ajibola and accused him of being a spokesman for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC].The drama ensued at the ongoing investigation by the Joint House of Representatives Committees on Finance, Petroleum Upstream and Downstream and Gas Resources into the N450 billion indebtedness of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federation Account. The members traded hot words in the presence of their guests.Trouble begun when Ajibola (PDP, Oyo), who is the co-chairman of the joint committee, took on the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Mrs Zainab Ahmed for indicting NNPC of not remitting N842.7 billion to the Federation Account between 2004-2008.Ajibola also said the fact that NEITI's audit report was carried out every three years cast doubt on its credibility. The fact that NNPC did not make available any document authorising it to make the said deductions does not make the act illegal, he also said.His statement threw the meeting hall into confusion with MPs shouting Ajibola down saying 'No, No, No'. Thereafter, some committee members raised a point of order castigating Ajibola for 'holding brief' for the NNPC. Majority of the members stood up and attempted to walk out of the hearing, but they were pacified by the Presiding Chairman Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin (PDP, Kano), who ruled that Ajibola went out of his way to discredit the NEITI report as if he was speaking on behalf of the NNPC.On getting the wind of the happening at the committee, the House Speaker quickly sent in Deputy Minority Leader Rep Suleiman Abdurahman Sumaila (ANPP, Kano) to 'ensure that members conduct themselves well.'Muraino Ajibola is a well known protg of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, and he led the writing of the minority report in the Committee on Power which probed the expenditure of $16 billion on power 'without commensurate results' by the Obasanjo regime in 1999-2007.Ajibola's rejection of the indictment of his political god-father played a major role in the eventual failure of the power probe report in the last House under former speaker Dimeji Bankole.
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