NEMA : How Speaker Yakubu Dogara Uses Committee To Fight VP Osinbajo

On November 8, the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness indicted Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in its report, accusing him of illegally approving N5.8 billion North East Intervention Fund which the lawmakers said was mismanaged by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Although the committee did not accuse Osinbajo of benefitting from the approval, it however said the authorization for the release of the fund for emergency food intervention in the North East contravened Section 80(4) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The report however handed out strong verdict on the people allegedly involved in the scandal among them is the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Maihaja who was recommended for sack.

The report submitted by the committee did not mention the name of the Vice President, nor was he in anyway mentioned during the consideration of the report.

However, after the submission of the report, the Vice President’s name began to crop into reports of the scam in the media.

Spokesman of Dogara, Hassan Turaki who, unusually, issued several press statements on the report, linking the Vice President to the alleged corruption in NEMA.

Turaki last Thursday sent out mail to some selected media outlets, about two hours after the consideration of the reports and resolutions adopted. The mail urged reporters to quickly use the story.

While the report did not mention Osibanjo, Turaki’s statement mentioned the name of the vice president, it reads “Reps indict Osibanjo over illegal approval of mismanaged N5.8 billion North East Intervention”.

The statement from the Speaker’s office brought the Vice President into the fold through interpretation of recommendation 3 of the report, which reads, “that all the government officials involved in the approval, processing, release and diversion of the sum of N5.8billion for the emergency intervention of food security in the North East, which contravened the provisions of S.80(2) and 80(4) of the Constitution, infraction of due process for procurement and loss of government revenue, flouting of the terms of the Eurobond loan are hereby indicted and the relevant Security Agencies should take steps to recover the money from them”.

The Chairman of the committee Ali J.C. Isa however while briefing journalists in reaction to the media report partially refuted the statement coming from the Speaker’s office.

He said, “But, in our submissions, there was nowhere I or the committee mentioned, specifically the VP Professor Osinbajo.

“What I also know is that he is the chairman of the governing council of NEMA. So, if he knows that there is something that I didn’t know, his office may be able to respond to some of the issues.

“I have documents from CBN stating that N5.8 billion be paid directly to the said companies, without signing any agreement with the companies, without any award letters; without any procurement processes.”

But the chairman added that the Vice President who was the Acting President at the time approval was given for the funds to be released has clarifications to make.

It is unusual that the Speaker will be leading attacks on the Vice President on a scam that has not being directly linked to him.

This is why many see the House Committee indictment of NEMA has politically motivated even though there are indications of some official laxity in the management of resources.

The politicization of the investigation will certainly make it impossible to get to the root of the matter affecting people already battered by the insurgency in the Northeast.

This is probably why the Presidency has stepped in to do its own investigations of what actually happened.