From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi.

ALL was cool with the Benue State House of Assembly until recently when news of a N750 million vehicle contract scam involving prin­cipal officers and indeed, all members of the House started going viral.

The House members, led by 36 year old Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange (Ushongo State Con­stituency) have been frequent visitors to the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the last three weeks over their complicity in the vehicle deal.

Sunday Sun gathered that the legislators had pressurised the executive arm of govern­ment in the state to approve the purchase of Toyota Prado jeeps for each of them after commissioners were given Prado jeeps as their official vehicles.

The argument of the legislators was that there were only 32 elected people in the state, the governor, his deputy and the 30 Assembly members.

While positing that every other person, in­cluding the commissioners was appointed, the lawmakers were said to have insisted that if the commissioners can get a Prado jeep each, they too deserve to be given Prado jeeps too.

After so much deliberation on the matter, the Executive Council was said to have alleg­edly approved the sum of N750 million for the purchase of the vehicles, a contract which was eventually given to the Deputy Speaker of the House, James Okefe, to handle.

Okefe was said to have fronted a company, Mia3 Nigeria Limited which collected the sum of N750 million to supply 30 jeeps for the members. Some of the members of the As­sembly allegedly got the vehicle while others collected the sum of N10 million instead of the vehicles.

However, bubble burst when those who collected N10 million in place of the jeeps later discovered that the vehicles cost far more than what they had been given.

When efforts to get the balance for the worth of their vehicles did not yield any result, the lawmakers, out of frustration were said to have connived with the contractor who also felt shortchanged and approached the anti-graft agency with a petition.

Unfortunately for the hatchers of the plan, the effect boomeranged and before they could retrace their steps, the EFCC was already after all members of the Assembly.

At a point, the Speaker, Ikyange, his deputy, Okefe and the 12 other principal officers were detained by the EFCC for some days before they were eventually released on bail and since then, they have been visiting the head­quarters of the anti-graft agency in Abuja.

Another angle to the matter is that Okefe was owing the company that mediated in the supply of the Prado Jeeps over N20m and af­ter several unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the money, they asked the EFCC to intervene.

An insider from the EFCC was quoted to have said that there was no petition against members of the State House of Assembly be­fore the anti-graft agency contrary to insinu­ations.

“What we had was a complaint against Hon. James Okefe and we did our work as usual. We invited him on two good occasions but he refused to come. We even sent our men to arrest him but he was shielded by some powerful people in government. This made us very curious as to why he was evading arrest. We did further investigations and uncovered everything and thanks to him (Hon Okefe), we are uncovering more”.

“We are still investigating but note that there is absolutely no petition per se before us against the House of Assembly. The findings are as a result of our own investigation.”

The EFCC source explained that the quoted price was less than the market price, putting in doubt their intention to supply the vehicles in the first place.

“At the time the contract was given, Prado Jeeps were sold for N15million, but they wrote N13.5m instead. We don’t think they had plans to execute the contract,” he said adding that, “The company instead of buying the Jeeps, offered each House member N10million. Twenty one mem­bers accepted but nine refused.”

He said Hon James Okefe owed one Autodome Ltd, the company that mediated in the supply of the nine Prado Jeeps at over N20m and after several unsuc­cessful attempts to retrieve the money, they asked the EFCC to intervene.

GOVERNOR ORTOM EXONERATES THE ASSEMBLY

But in a swift reaction, Governor Samuel Ortom last Monday exonerated the legislators saying the vehicles were duly approved by the State Executive Council at the cost of N13.5 million per one, but that owing to the fluctuation in the prices of dollar, the quoted amount could no longer buy the vehicles after the contractor had supplied the first set.

He said it was as a result of that that some mem­bers of the House who did not benefit from the first set of jeeps that were supplied decided to collect money meant for the purchase of the vehicles and went to buy cheaper vehicles.

Related News

Ortom who noted that it was a mistake on the part of the affected lawmakers to have agreed to go for few cheaper vehicles instead of the ones approved for them said the anti-graft agency has now asked them to refund the money.

Recall that 21 members of the Assembly, obvi­ously those who accepted cash instead of the vehi­cles, were detained by the EFCC and later released on bail and have been reporting weekly to the anti­graft agency headquarters in Abuja.

LAWMAKERS KEEP MUM ON THE MAT­TER

Meanwhile, principal officers of the Assembly and other members have remained silent over the is­sue, saying they would talk at the appropriate time.

Efforts to get the Speaker of the Assembly to comment on the matter have also not yielded any result as he has continued to promise to speak when the time is ripe.

When our correspondent visited he Assmbly complex last week, the whole place was deserted as almost all the offices were under lock and key.

A staff who pleaded anonymity disclosed that the legislators were on the run following the arrest of the speaker, Terkimbi Ikyange, His deputy, James Okefe and other principal officers by the Economic and Fi­nancial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“Most of the lawmakers have not been coming to the Assembly premises for about two weeks now. I’m sure you are aware of the arrest of the speaker and some principal officers of the House. Maybe the members are afraid of also being picked by the EFCC,” the insider said.

It was also discovered that the renovation work on the Assembly complex has been stalled with parts of the roof are almost falling off, while the ever fero­cious security personnel at the entrance of the com­plex were nowhere to be found at the time of our visit.

HOUSE HURRIEDLY PASSED FIVE BILLS THROUGH FIRST READING

While the heat was on, some members of the House who were presumed to be loyal to the speak­er, penultimate Tuesday sat for 20 minutes to delib­erate on five bills amid tight security.

The bills include that for a law to prohibit Open Rearing and Grazing of Livestock, bill to make pro­vision for the establishment of Fiscal Responsibil­ity Commission and that for a law to establish Road Traffic Management Authority and for traffic and vehicle inspection in the state.

Others include a bill for a law to make provision for the establishment of the Office of Public, Private Partnership and that for the establishment of Benue State Council of Public Procurement and Public Pro­curement Commission.

The five bills were presented by the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Barr. Benjamin Adanyi and

were accordingly read for the first time by the Clerk of the Assembly, Dr. Torese Agena on the floor of the State House of Assembly.

Speaker of the House, Hon. Terkimbi Iky­ange referred the bills to the Committee on Rules and Business to be slated for second reading on a later date.

GROUP CALLS FOR RESIGNATION OF HOUSE LEADERSHIP

A group known as the Concerned Benue Youth for Good Governance, (CBYGG) has called for the resignation of the House lead­ership following the vehicle scam that had rocked the House. The group also advocated the recall of any member fingered in the al­leged scam so as to serve as deterrent to any lawmaker with intent to defraud the state gov­ernment.

In a statement issued in Makurdi by the s ecretary of the group, Casmir Ode and made available to us, the group decried and lamented that activities at the Assembly had been put on hold as a result of the constant visit of the leadership of the House and other affected members to the EFCC. “We are not happy that with the allegation that is rocking the House over an alleged misapplication of over N750million meant for the purchase of official cars for members, this is unfortunate considering that about half of the members are being investigated by the EFCC.

“We are saddened because this develop­ment and allegations, though yet to be proven, have not only ridiculed the integrity of the House ,it has made a mockery of the anti corruption stance of the Samuel Ortom led administration. As if that is not enough, the business of legislation has remained dormant since this scandal broke out and some bills before the House that are very important and critical to this administration have remained stagnated.

“It is therefore our considered opinion that in view of the implication of this saga and the fact that a ridiculous picture of the House has been painted to Nigerians and the outside world as a result of the ongoing probe, the leadership of the House should honorably re­sign in order to save the House from further mockery.

“We also recommend a recall of any mem­ber found liable at the end of the EFCC probe so that the House can be cleansed and reposi­tioned for service delivery.”