The House of Representatives under the dynamic leadership of Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila has been exceptionally performing its constitutional role of oversight on Ministries, Departments and Agencies until now. Financial misdemeanour and breach of public service rules by officials are often interrogated by the House. That is the global legislative practice. As the representatives of the people, they are constitutionally empowered to hold officers entrusted with public trust to account.
From the oil marketers and their collaborators who fleeced the nation billions of Naira through phantom importation bills to heads of revenue generating agencies who abused public trust had their days in the scrutiny rooms of the green chamber. Many of whom feigned fainting and illness when the heat of interrogation became intense.
Why should the case of the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola be different. The red herring from the minister’s minders and sympathisers won’t stop the House of Representatives from performing its statutory role.
In any case, the House through its Spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu has dispelled the witch-hunt narrative that the Aregbesola’s camp was spinning. Kalu in a press statement stressed that , “A case in hand was the resolution the House passed on Wednesday mandating its Committee on Reformatory Institutions to investigate the appalling working conditions, lack of facilities and the poor welfare of the personnel and inmates of the Nigeria Correctional Service”.
“The House had said services at most correctional centres had not improved in spite of the over N165billion budgetary allocations made to the NCS in the last 2years.
Meanwhile, what many people are not aware of, is that the Minority Leader of the House, Nndudi Elumelu, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker moved the motion to probe the Nigerian Correctional Services, NCS.
So, the mischievous misrepresentation of Joint Resolution of the House to mean that Speaker Gbajabiamila is fighting a proxy war with the Minister over the outburst of the latter against the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC is most unfortunate.
A clear conscience fears no accusations. If the Minister is untainted , if he had lived up to the dictates of his assignment, he should fear anything. Except, he is currently being tried in the court of his conscience like Mahatma Gandhi said, “There is a higher court than the court of justice i.e. ‘court of conscience”.
A whopping N165B taxpayers’ fund cannot go down the drain without proper accounting. The welfare of those in the correctional services should not be sacrificed for the avarice of greedy few.
By the way, why is the Minister getting edgy over a probe. As an experienced politician, he should know that all is fair in war. When you stirred the hornet’s nest, you don’t expect everything to be alright.
Rather than the Minister and his supporters getting upset and blackmailing Speaker Gbajabiamila, they should be more worried of bigger troubles at the minister’s political bases.
He wanted to play god in a state he left in ruins before a level-headed successor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola came to clean the mess. What legacies was Aregbesola referring to? Is it a legacy of humongous , unsustainable debts, non-payment of workers’ salaries or needless fanning of religious discord through provocative policies?
If he did well and the people of Osun wanted him to perpetuate himself in office through Moshood Adeoti, the governorship aspirant he backed in the shadow election, the former Secretary to the State Government of Osun should have carried the day. But he was rejected with everything he represented. Aregbesola reportedly fled the state when defeat was menacingly staring at him. He was nowhere to be found in Osun on the d-day.
Last Saturday APC primary elections was a loud referendum on the leadership of Ogbeni Aregbesola. You cannot Lord yourself over the people against their will. He failed to copy the template of the strongman of Lagos politics.
The Lion of Bourdillon had a large heart. He was willing to concede in many cases to his lieutenants that is why he remains the Capo du tutti.
A leader must have a great deal of native and emotional intelligence. Aregbesola lacked both . How could you publicly castigate the man that brought you from nowhere into national reckoning because of ego? He hurriedly forgot the electoral and the legal battles the man he described in unprinted words fought on his behalf.
Running a retired military top brass and a former Lagos State administrator, Olagunsoye Oyinlola out of town was not a tea party. Bola Tinubu stood like a rock of Gilbreta through the challenging political period.
A former Attorney-General of Lagos State who is the current Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo recounted the audacious assignment of assembling over 60 world’s renowned forensic experts to prove the case of Rauf and others in courts. It cost fortunes and huge resources.
The despicable public show of shame of Aregbesola against Tinubu was the albatross that finally nailed his political career. Many excused his tantrums against Oyetola until overstepped his bounds by railing at the leader when addressing the army of his disgruntled supporters.
Where would Aregbesola turn ? He has become a Politically Displaced Person(PDP) without any base. In Osun, he is a Pariah. In Alimosho, where his words were once the law is a no go area for him.
Party members in Alimosho, that nation’s largest constituency staged protests, paraded a mock coffin of the minister announcing his political demise.
More troubles can be foreseen as the government of Osun might likely unravel his many sins. President Muhammadu Buhari should also be wary of characters like Aregbesola. A man who could disparage his political mentor and benefactor in such a ridiculous manner cannot be trusted.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Buhari presidency moved against Aregbesola to assure APC structures in Osun, Tinubu and his teeming supporters that the minister was not doing the bidding of the government at the centre. It is safer to throw a turncoat minister under the bus than to lose the confidence of thousands of party members.
In all these, Gbajabiamila is not in the mix, there are enough domestic headaches for Aregbesola for the Speaker to add one. Moreso, it is not in the character of the urbane Speaker of the House to be engaging in vendetta.
Therefore, Aregbesola should come clean over the alleged financial misappropriation and cease from blackmailing those who are performing their statutory role. Continue Reading
- Adewale writes from Ilesa
