The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has warned that the allegation of
bribery involving the chair of the
House of Representatives ad hoc committee on fuel subsidy management,
Hon. Farouk Lawan, must not
be allowed to scuttle the implementation of the committee’s report.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party
expressed deep concern at the timing of the allegation to coincide
with the period that Nigerians expect the
government to be dealing with the issues raised in the report.
It said Nigerians generally believe, going by published reactions to
the report, that the committee carried out a
thorough job in exposing the massive mismanagement and the sleaze
involved in the fuel subsidy issue.
”Therefore, the allegation of bribery making the rounds should not be
used as a reason not to allow all those
indicted by the report to have their day in court,” ACN said.
The party said while the bribery allegation must be thoroughly
investigated and anyone found culpable dealt with
according to the laws of the land, any attempt to cast aspersion on
the report, to say it has been tainted by the
bribery allegation, should be resisted by the House of Representatives.
”We are concerned that this case is eerily similar to what happened
after the House’s probe into the $16 billion
reportedly spent in the power sector during the Obasanjo regime.
Instead of implementing the report of the committee,
the man who presided over the probe was slammed with corruption
charges. Till today, that report was never
implemented and Nigeria remains in darkness,” it said.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
Lagos, Nigeria
