Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mohammed Sanni Omolori, Wednesday testified in favour of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, and his deputy, Hon. Usman Bayero Nafada, before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.
Omolori was, on Tuesday, summoned to appear before the court to explain why he had been frustrating investigation in the matter as alleged by counsel to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Festus Keyamo.
In his testimony, which lasted over one hour, the Clerk told the presiding judge, Justice Suleiman Belgore, that the decision to obtain loans by the leadership of the 6th House was reached with the consent of the entire members of the lower chamber.
He said the funds were not at anytime turned into the personal accounts of Bankole and Nafada, who are now facing a 17-count charge of criminal breach of public trust and corruption preferred against them by the EFCC.
Sanni, who appeared as prosecution witness (PW4) stated further that the two accused persons did not benefit from the loans taken as claimed by the EFCC, as the running costs of their offices were decreased to N100m for the Speaker and N80m for his Deputy.
Omolori, however, suddenly became hostile under cross-examination by counsel to the 1st accused person, Wale Akonni (SAN), and that of the 2nd accused person, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN).
He said in March 2010, the leadership of the House, in an executive session, had a briefing about the import of the 2010 budget and members, who were duly briefed, expressed dissatisfaction with a number of areas in the budget, one of which was the running cost.
They advanced various reasons why the leadership of the House should enhance the running cost of members.
“The whole idea of enhancement of welfare and running cost was to put it in the budget that was in the offing. Even though there was money in the budget, members were not prepared to wait until the release of the budget. The agitation from members became so vicious that they insisted they were either paid what they wanted or the leadership will be sacked,” he said.
The clerk pointed out that the decision reached on March 30, which resulted in the loans, was endorsed by all members.
“The loans taken were to enhance the running cost of members, even as the total budget later passed took care of the costs,” he added.
He also said that both Bankole and Nafada had no control over the accounts of the House.
“Accounts that were maintained belonged to the House of Representatives and not the Speaker. The 1st accused person had no control over any House accounts and when the loans were taken by the resolution of the general House, the running costs of the Speaker and his deputy, who also did not benefit from the loans taken, were decreased drastically,” he concluded.
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