MPs brawl at $5m inquiry
2007-09-21 09:50
Abuja - Nigerian legislators traded punches and insults on Thursday over a suspected $5m spending spree by the speaker of the House of Representatives that had caused a national scandal and paralysed the House.
Patricia Etteh was under investigation by nine House members over allegations by fellow legislators that she flouted House rules by approving contracts worth $5m to renovate her official residence and that of her deputy and to buy 12 cars.
Nigeria consistently ranked as one of the world's most corrupt countries in a list drawn up every year by independent watchdog, Transparency International. It was the eighth-biggest oil exporter in the world, but most people lived in poverty.
The furore over Etteh's contracts had been an embarrassing start for the National Assembly, which took office on June 05 after April elections, at a time when new President Umaru Yar'Adua was promising zero tolerance for corruption.
Etteh approves $3m contracts
Etteh appeared before the investigation panel in a packed room inside the National Assembly complex on Thursday, but after she stood up to give her submission one legislator pointed at her and shouted "Thief! Thief!" in her native Yoruba language.
This caused an uproar. Pro- and anti-Etteh legislators shouted abuse at one another. Some clambered over tables to punch others. Etteh was hurried out by security staff who had to use fists and elbows to shove a screaming crowd out of her way.
The committee hearing broke up in chaos and Etteh was unable to deliver her statement, although copies were later circulated.
The document said Etteh had followed due process in approving contracts worth $3m. But that figure did not include the price of 10 new cars she said were needed for the principal officers of the House, or for her own new furniture.
She said: "I am not in any way driven by extravagance, comfort or personal gain", adding that the $1.9m earmarked to renovate her residence was reasonable considering there were 10 bedrooms, seven sitting rooms and several annex buildings.
The practice of public officials awarding inflated contracts and sharing the excess money with the contractors had been one of the most common forms of corruption for decades.
The new president had cultivated an image of austerity and simple living in an effort to curb the culture of profligacy among Nigeria's ruling elite, but his message had been lost in a daily flow of headlines about the speaker's lavish renovations.
Etteh's spokesperson said in an article published on Thursday the speaker was the victim of a vendetta by veteran members who were angry because she did not name them chairmen of the House committees they coveted, choosing newcomers instead.