• LAWSA Electoral Commission embroiled in scandal.
• "You have defrauded LAWSA" - Congressmen to ELECO
• "We only followed precedent and did no wrong" - ELECO
It was indeed a rowdy Congress session full of drama on Friday (15th of January 2016) as parliamentarians slugged it out with members of the Lawsa electoral commission, just as the Executive arm of Government led by Garrick Nosa failed to present its budget.
The sitting which was billed to start by 3pm did not start until almost half an hour later.
When it finally did, the house moved to deliberate and adopt a standing order (a set of rules guiding Parliamentarians while sitting is in session) but what was ordinarily thought to be a simple matter dragged on for more than an hour as various Congressmen had issues with more than a few provisions of the proposed standing order. For example, Proviso 2 of the proposed standing order which provided that "All members must be punctual at every sitting; lateness to the house shall attract a fine of 100naira. Absence from sitting with cogent reason(s) and permission from Mr Speaker shall attract a fine of 200naira to be paid before the next sitting", Proviso 20, and a few other provisions provided cause for concern or clarification for congressmen.
However finally seeing that no headway could be reached on the matter, The speaker, Honourable Nna Victor, moved a motion for the temporary adoption of the standing order until such a time when the house could reach a consensus on the issue.
After this incident, the house moved to it's next business for the day, which was the 'Congressional audit of the LAWSA Electoral Commission'.
The current electoral commission of Lawsa is made up of six members, two from the final year class and one from other classes.
500level - Chibueze Maduka(chairman)
500level - Stanley Nnabuo(vice chairman)
400level - Ehiwe Osamudiamen(secretary)
300level - Chibueze Ituma.
200level -Oghale Akawa
100level -Micheal Opaweri
However the members in 500level (as at the time ELECO was inaugurated) are currently in law school, thus they could not be around to account to congress, in their stead the secretary, Ehiwe Osamudiamen and two other members appeared before congress.
The secretary gave the presentation which was oral in nature and was going relatively well until the secretary announced that the commission realized a revenue of 80,500 naira and spent 43,000 naira on expenses while another 4,400 naira was spent on 'miscellaneous' expenses, and then the subsequent balance of 32,700 naira which was surplus was shared amongst the six electoral officers, (plus two bottles of wine for the staff adviser). It was at this point that congressmen began to complain profusely as to why the commission could not make copies of the said account available to congressmen in print so as to enable them follow up properly instead of labouring under the strain of dictation, seeing that the commission had so much money at its disposal and could expend as they deem fit.
Seeing that congressmen were aggrieved, the secretary apologised and promised that subsequently, copies would be made available to the leadership of the house, unfortunately though, congressmen were not placated by this response thus the Speaker of the house had to call for a recess immediately and "dipping his hands into his pocket" he asked the clerk of the house to go make photocopies of the said account report for members of the house.
All congressmen present were then furnished with refreshments (soft drinks and snacks) and from what ULP sources gathered, this was the first time such a thing was happening in a really long time for about three or four sessions now and by the smiles on the faces on congressmen, it was obvious they were well pleased with this new development.
Alarmingly though, the house upon waiting for the clerk for more than thirty minutes, seeing that he was not forthcoming due to some unavoidable delay, decided to move on to the next item on its agenda which was the Presentation of budget by the Executive arm of the association pending the arrival of the clerk.
The Executives of the association were ably represented by the Vice President, Ruth Ogor Azaka and the Secretary General of the association, Ugochukwu Okeleke.
The Speaker then called on the Vice President to address the house, but then to the surprise of some of the Congressmen she pleaded with the house and craved the indulgence of Congressmen that due to circumstances beyond their control, that the executive arm could not present it's budget as expected and pleaded for an extension, stating that a letter had been sent to the speaker to that effect. The Speaker summarily foreclosed on the issue and promised to communicate the contents of the letter to the house subsequently.
The clerk finally arrived but time was already a few minutes past the six and more than a few congressmen saw the need to adjourn the sitting to a later date, this particular issue became the next cause of debate on the floor of the house as some members (mostly those of the 200 level constituency) wanted to leave, while others saw the need for sacrifice to enable the pending electoral issue be dealt with once and for all, in the end, the Speaker again with his discretion asked that all members that wanted to leave are free to, devoid of any consequences. With this permission, they so did en masse remaining just one 200level congress member. The sitting was left with just about 17 Congress members from 300level to final year.
CONGRESS MEMBERS vs ELECO
After distribution of copies of the Electoral Commission's report amongst the congressmen, the audit of the electoral commission resumed and from this point on hell was let loose, as one congressman after the other stood up to register their displeasure, disappointment and grouse with members of the electoral commission for willfully allocating to themselves the sum of thirty two thousand naira (#32,000), when the money should have been remitted into LAWSA's account, all the more so, seeing that the association was and has always been in desperate need of funds.
Congressman after congressman stood up to question the morality, fairness and financial astuteness of the actions of the electoral commission, seeing that the sum disbursed among the electoral committee members was almost tantamount to half the school fee of any law student, for a job that for the most part spanned two weeks, not to mention the fact that several congressmen have been in service to the association for sessions consecutively and are yet to be paid as much 500naira for any sitting since they've been in the house.
Hon. P.W Friday of the 300level constituency was quick to compare the issue to the 'Dasuki-gate scandal' (were it was discovered that the former minister of defense used state funds meant for other purposes for personal use), for he brought to the attention of the house that the Eleco audit report portrayed alot of inconsistencies and notable frivolities, making specific mention of item eight (8), that the Eleco representative for his constituency was allocated the sum of one thousand two hundred naira (1200naira) for the sending of bulk sms, one which he nor other members received as at the time of elections or any other time subsequently.
Hon. Abada (400level) decried with passion that "Lawsa has been raped outrageously, injured financially and was still bleeding".
Honourable members from the 400level constituency pointed out that by virtue of section 42(2) of the Lawsa constitution, "the commission shall submit it's budget to staff adviser for approval" and seeing that the Eleco had already submitted and the sum of forty nine thousand (49,000) naira and had been approved by the staff adviser, they no longer had any business with the surplus funds as such belonged and should have been returned back to the coffers of the association.
In their defense however, the ELECO reiterated that they did nothing wrong or illegal and they were in fact been open to the House with the whole process and hiding nothing. They pointed out that there was a lacuna in the LAWSA Constitution as to what to do with the excess forms realised from the sale of forms for electoral offices, thus they asked former ELECOs past, who directed that excess funds have always been given to the Staff Adviser who in his wisdom would do as he deemed fit. On doing this, the Staff Adviser in his generosity then returned the money to them and asked the members to share it amongst themselves. They reiterated also that all they did was not unconstitutional and merely following convention which has been the practice for a long time and was with the legal backing of the Staff Adviser, even adducing evidence of his signature authorising the sharing of the remaining funds amongst themselves.
It was already dark (a quarter past 7) and emotions were running really high as most congressmen were now speaking at the top of their voices and being very emotional about the issue. Thus the speaker had to call for a motion of adjournment of the sitting to a latter date, and recommending (based on an earlier suggestion by Chief Whip, Hon. Freeman Ameh) that the ELECO representatives appear before their various constituencies and present to them the same report they had presented to the House.
At the time of this report it was still a big issue as ULP sources confirm that they saw Congressmen in various clusters vowing to summon their various Eleco representative to appear before their class and explain why and how they collected such a whooping sum without intimating them in the least thereafter, while some even threatened to sue the electoral commission to the A.C.E Jural court.
The comprehensive audit report made available to ULP, showed that
For Revenue
50 prospective parliamentarians bought forms at a rate of 500naira totaling = 25000naira.
For the executives, 13persons bought forms
Two for Presidency @5000naira.
Three other positions at a rate of 4500naira.
Eight for other positions at a rate of 4000naira.
Total Revenue
80,500 naira only.
Approved Budget
49,000naira.
Total Expenditure (including miscellaneous)
47,800naira.
Balance
32,700naira.
This balance was thus expended (shared) amongst various members of the electoral committee - upon approval by the then Staff Adviser, Barr. D.T Achi:
Chairman (Maduka Chibueze) - 5800naira.
Deputy Vice Chairman (Stanley Nnabuo) - 5,000naira.
Secretary (Ehiwe Osamudiamen)- 5,500naira.
300level representative - (Chibueze Ituma) - 5,500naira.
200level representative(Oghale Akawa) -5,500naira.
100level representative (Michael Opaweri)-5,500naira.
And the subsequent balance of 1,400 naira was used in procuring two bottles of wine in appreciating the staff adviser for his immense support throughout the entire process.
*Report by gafar.
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