Bankole, Deputy Buy 18 Bullet-proof Vehicles - Each Costs N85m

Honourable Dimeji Bankole, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and his deputy, Honourable Usman Bayero Nafada, are said to have acquired nine bullet-proof cars each for their official use and in preparation for 2011 governorship elections in their respective states.
Bankole is from Ogun State while Nafada is from Gombe. Their governors are respectively serving second terms and their seats will be vacant in 2011.
The Speaker had, on many occassions, denied eyeing the governorship seat, but sources in his state have continued to link him with a possible shot at the Ogun Government House. The multi-million naira vehicles are now in Abuja, while the presiding officers sometimes put some of the cars in their official fleet.
Sources confirmed in Abuja that each of the vehicles was acquired for between N50 and N85 million and that the deputy speaker, most of the times, acted as a catalyst for the acquisition.It was also gathered in Abuja that the cars are mostly parked at a rented apartment being used as a Guest House by the Speaker.
Saturday Tribune reports that the speaker acquired the first bullet-proof car shortly after he resumed office in November, 2007, adding that the car was in his fleet during his first official trip to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.It was gathered that because of the sensitive nature of the cars, the National Assembly had, through the outgoing Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Alhaji Nasiru Arab, requested for End Users Certificate (EUC) from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to ensure the clearance of the first bullet-proof car acquired for the Speaker.

Disband the Federal House of Representatives Now!

The time has come to disband the Federal House of Representatives in Nigeria. It one thing for it to be the utterly useless money-draining institution that I believe it is and another thing entirely for it to redefine its mission as Nigeria’s National Academy of Comedy and Comedians (NACCO). Pray, do these looting comedians in Abuja learn anything from their endless estacode-induced junketing around the world to mingle with their peers in other climes and observe how the legislative business is done?
A report in the November 6, 2009 edition of NEXT indicates that the House spent a considerable part of the legislative day debating vigorously whether or not to agree with reports that have recently labeled Nigeria a failed state! Unbelievable, isn’t it? But wait for this: Dimeji Bankole and Patricia Etteh even had a say in the matter. In a move indicative of what the Yoruba call “da bi mo ti da”, (I want you to be as wretched as I am), Dimeji Bankole rapturously recalled that he had been made privy to a case of bribery during a visit to Canada. His logic, I guess, is this: if pervasive bribery (i.e. runaway corruption) is one of the indices of a failed state and he was fortunate enough to witness or hear about an incident of bribery in Canada, that means we are not alone. Canada is also technically a failed state jare!

The FOI Bill and Nigerian Corrupt Lawmakers

Please help us collect the email address of all elected Lawmakers in Nigeria. We will launch a campaign to force our senators and Representatives to pass the Freedom of Information and the Whistle blowers Bill. Every concerned Nigerian should write to his senator, his Representative and ask: Where is our Freedom of Information Bill?

Quote: "The business of bringing information to the people is vital to the sustenance of societal goals. Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light, the most efficient policeman. But publicity is the oil that greases the whee1s of democracy because only a well-informed citizenry can promote the cause of democracy". Ray Ekpu
But to Nigerian fat and corrupt Lawmakers, the FOI Bill should be killed and "The reasons are obvious, and we know them. And because they are afraid”, says as a member of the House of Representatives Hon. Aliyu Pategi.
Hopes that the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill may be passed into law during the current session of the National Assembly dimmed yesterday as a member of the House of Representatives Hon. Aliyu Pategi said the bill was unlikely to scale through the numerous hurdles erected along its path.

Where is the 2009 EFCC report?

On September 28, 2008, I questioned the whereabouts of the annual report of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the National Assembly.
In the words of the EFCC (ESTABLISHMENT) ACT of 2004: “The Commission shall, not later than 30th September in each year, submit to the National Assembly, a report of its activities during the immediately preceding year and shall include in such report the audited accounts of the Commission.” But by the 30th of September last year, it was clear the EFCC had ignored this critical responsibility. In subsequent comments, on October 11 and 18, 2008, I called on Mrs. Farida Waziri, the Commission Chairman, to resign, and then to be fired.