‘$9.3M ARMS SCANDAL WILL SOON BE SWEPT UNDER CARPET’

Rep Pally Iriase represents Owan East/West Federal Constituency of Edo State in the House of Representatives. In this interview, he bares his mind on the botched $9.3m arms deal, saying it is a clear case of impunity, which will soon be swept under the carpet. Excerpts:

It is alleged that the presidency has flouted the Public Procurement Act, Money Laundering Act and the EFCC Act in the $9.3m deal. What is your take on this?
The $9.3m deal is a very messy affair. For crying out loud, this government has succeeded in shooting itself in the foot! From the inception of the 7th Assembly, we had said there is no way we would condone corruption. But we have been hamstrung by the executive arm of government. Each time we go after those who are perpetrating mind-boggling corruption in Nigeria, the executive finds a way to stand in between or even bail people out.
Nine point three million dollars, an equivalent of about N1.5bn put in a plane and sent outside the shores of this country? Where do we have the invoices? It is an elementary thing that if you are going to buy things from a known dealer, there will be an invoice, there will be quotation. Even if you say, it is a covert operation, once the lid has been blown, you are constrained to remove whatever veil to show that genuinely there was indeed an intention to buy anything. But that has not been the case.

They just rushed to the defence by saying that it is their money, Nigerian money and that they were going to buy arms and ammunition to fight terrorism which is so easy these days. It is available to every Dick, Tom and Harry to cash on to.
How would Nigeria that has committed to cashless policy carry hard currency anywhere? Look at the rather laughable excuses that we get: you know, there is some kind of embargo on arms purchase by Nigeria. Does that now push you to go and do it by cash? No. Because whichever way, you would have to transport them across borders to Nigeria. And who said so? Now, America has let us know that there is no such thing. Are we in a war? There is no truth and they have flouted several acts of parliament. The illegality sticks out like the foot.
But if I know Nigeria, within the next one week, this again will be swept under the carpet. Many more things that are worse than this have happened in terms of corruption. You see, the dilemma of the House of Representatives is that we can only bark; we cannot bite. That is the problem of the legislature which is okay. But in a working democracy, the moment you expose this thing, it goes into court of public opinion and if the government will not act, the people react. But in Nigeria; no. Everybody is self-preserving. ‘I don’t want trouble o!’
So, that’s where we are. Each of these cases of corruption is enough to create enabling environment for massive employment for our children. God just revealed this one. Would this have been the first courier? It wouldn’t have been. You know when you catch a serial thief, he will tell you, it is only this once I tried, and they just caught me. How? So, if you ask me, this is yet another example of the penchant for impunity that we have been witnessing in this country.
The legislature seems to be a rubber stamp of the presidency going by the lack of political will to do anything against it. How will you respond to that?
No, we didn’t set out to be a rubber stamp. I disagree with that. But the moment politics came into the House, we became sharply divided. Don’t forget that the in-thing now is survival. People are looking for nomination at all costs. And so, they do the bidding of their party, particularly the ruling party. That’s what is going on. What has happened in the House flies in the face of our legislative agenda, because we told Nigerians this is what we should be held responsible for. And we did very well. On the 8 of January or there about, in 2012, on a Sunday to be precise, this House cut short our Christmas break and came to the hallowed chambers to confront the mind-boggling corruption that was inherent in the fuel importation saga. And we said if you open the can, you will see terrible things that Nigerians have not known about. And all of that was to be covered by one presidential speech. The happy new year we got that year was “we have removed fuel subsidy” and Nigerians must be ready to pay 141 Naira per litre.
What did we do? We set up a panel and you lured one member with a view to dumping him in a ditch and we are yet to hear the last of it, because the law says the giver and taker of bribes are both offenders of the law, isn’t it? But in Nigeria, somebody came and brazenly told all of us a pure lie; that it was a sting operation. Sting operation comes by way of marked money. Sting operation is not done without ambush. And we had to depend on the so-called warped video. The stingers didn’t have their own video. No wonder nothing came out of it.
They went behind to set up more than two different committees sifting and shuffling in order to say, ‘you go for trial; you don’t go.’ We know the names of the shakers and movers of the ruling party whose families were involved. What did you hear of them? Corruption is killing Nigeria and it is masterminded and protected from the topmost level of governance in this country.
There was an allegation that members were given $20,000 each to kill a motion on the matter. How true is it? Were you part of the largesse?
Unfortunately, I am known for what I stand for and nobody dares come near me with such. There have been instances, that is why I cannot deny for anybody on this compromising action. But of late, I think they have now known who to target, who will be paid to make the loudest noise and cause confusion and whatever. But I think they need to exonerate themselves. Those who also accuse need to prove.
The truth of the matter is that the way the matter was handled on the floor, even without the allegation of money changing hands, looked very suspicious because we have the rules of the House. We know when a man successfully moves a motion on the Order that talks about matters of urgent public importance, that’s Order 8 Rule 46. What you have is that the moment the House gives its approval that the matter is urgent and important, it is automatically slated for discussion the next day.
We are simply saying that questions must be asked that will put the executive on its toes - the executive that claims it was Nigerian money. It is not unusual to even resolve into an executive session to call whoever would wish to give an explanation to the representatives of Nigerians. But no. You hit the gavel and say ‘look, no debate’ and put the question.
Parliament is run in such a way that people should convince each other on the way to vote. What were they voting for? You just moved. Nobody spoke for or against. You just read out the motion and the prayers and then you came to the conclusion. The only motions that are treated that way to the knowledge of all of us are motions that deal with infrastructural facilities. What we simply do is that once they are moved and seconded, instead of going into a wasteful debate, you send it to the relevant committee to do a thorough job on it.
Nigerians are disappointed that money can develop wings and fly from Nigeria and nobody would talk about it. The poverty level in Nigeria today is so mind-boggling and this kind of things can happen.  Immediately after the issue of refined petroleum products importation saga, face saving measures were put in place, we were told in a woolly statement that over N5bn or there about had been recovered.
Only more recently, we talked about the scandal of a minister spending as much as N10bn in a short space of time on hired aircraft. The whole thing had been trampled upon.
What is the way out?
Nigerians must commit to change, and democratic change is simple. If I am not doing well, do something about it next time around. Nigerians must also collectively accept the need for two vibrant parties in this country. Only one party can win the presidency. What if one party wins the presidency and the other wins the legislature? Won’t Nigerians be happier? That is how it happens in more developed countries. Winner takes all will not help you.
Nigerians are the ones to ensure that the programmed checks and balances in our constitution become a reality on ground. The only way it can be is to use your power of the ballot to start something.