Posted by By JAMES OJO, Abuja on
Acting Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr Niyi Ajiboye opened a new vista on Wednesday in the probe of N628 million contracts to renovate the residences of the Speaker, Hon Patricia Olubumi Etteh and her deputy, Babangida Seidu Nguroje, when he told the House probe panel that he turned down a request for a N98 million body massager machine routed through the office of the Speaker
Acting Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr Niyi Ajiboye opened a new vista on Wednesday in the probe of N628 million contracts to renovate the residences of the Speaker, Hon Patricia Olubumi Etteh and her deputy, Babangida Seidu Nguroje, when he told the House probe panel that he turned down a request for a N98 million body massager machine routed through the office of the Speaker. It was gathered that the body massager was for the use of all lawmakers.
Explaining his official duties as the Clerk to the House, Ajiboye, on oath, said that his career almost suffered as those involved in the proposal went for his jugular when he insisted that "it was not a legislative request".
"Let me tell you that a request for a body massager with a cost price of N98 million was even presented to me from the office of the Speaker. I advised that it is not our priority and it is not legislative business. I turned the body massager request down. And when I did that, they sought for my head," he said.
The revelation threw the jam-packed hall into prolonged laughter and it took the Chairman of the panel, Hon David Idoko time to restore order.
Ajiobye, who looked unruffled went ahead to stun members of the panel when he disclosed again that there was nothing strange in the award of the N628 million contract.
"What happened in this case is not a new thing. It has been happening. Sometimes there are requests by members for sponsorship to travel to the United States which have nothing to do with legislative business. But I turn it down and they will not like it."
Asked what he knew about the budget of the House, as the accounting officer, Ajiboye said that he was not in a position to know about it.
"I am not aware of the House budget, I don't know about the records. The Honourable Speaker does not have to consult me about renovation. I was not consulted."
The Acting Clerk noted that as far as the operations of the National Assembly was concerned, there was nothing wrong with the content of the memo of the meeting concerning the controversial contact. He said, "I agree with the content of the memo and I don't have any need to quarrel with it. They have done their job very well. A quorum was formed.
The meeting was properly constituted. The memos were presented one after the other and justification sought and I did not see anything untoward. As I have said, I will still affirm that there was nothing untoward in the award of the contract."
He further told the panel: "I believe that there was nothing extraordinary. I believe there is a political undertone in the whole matter. The issue of renovation is not purely the function of the Clerk. I wouldn't know and nobody in the House will know when the house in question was renovated. To me, vetting is part of due process. Due process is a chain reaction."
On the guidelines for the award of contracts and the number of persons that are supposed to be present at the meeting where the contracts were awarded, Ajiboye said that the procedures pertaining to such meeting were followed.
"This is what obtains in the National Assembly. It has never been followed. It does not exist. In the circumstance, we tried to follow the procedure. We are bureaucrats. We operate in a difficult and different environment for the progress of the legislature. Like I said, I did not initiate the memo.
"An expert presented it, so I have no competence to question the memo. I don't have competence to doubt the capability of the technical people that visited the place. I visited that house last May, shortly before the last session was dissolved. I don't know when it was pasted or not on the notice boards. They did not show me the advert."
He claimed not to be aware of the conflicting figures on the cost of official and utility vehicles for the Deputy Speaker, which showed different models from S320 and S550 Mercedes Benz, while clarifying the position of the meeting of July 12 at the Speaker's office for the award of the contract.
Ajiboye explained that the meeting had to come up one hour before schedule on the said date due to the fact that the plenary session only lasted for 11 minutes, when the public address system started malfunctioning, prompting the Speaker to call for the meeting earlier than the scheduled time.
The controversial contract, according to him, had nothing to do with legislative role. "It is not my duty to award contract... When the paper was passed to me, I passed it above me to my superiors for further directives. Every memo for the award of contracts was prepared by the tenders Board secretary. This is what has been happening at the National Assembly".