A committee of the House of Representatives charged with investigating job racketeering in government parastatals has been accused of engaging in extortion from heads of federal ministries, departments and agencies, including tertiary institutions across the country.
But spokesperson of the House, Akin Rotimi (APC, Ekiti), in a statement, said the leadership of the House has resolved to investigate the matter.
A premium Times investigation had concluded that the committee, known for posturing as an anti-corruption body, has actually been intimidating heads of agencies into paying huge sums of money in bribes “to avoid being disgraced in public and indicted in a report to be issued after the on-going hearings to which almost all the heads of the nation’s federal institutions have been summoned to appear”.
The ad hoc committee of the House made up of 39 lawmakers was ser up following a motion on 5th July by Oluwole Oke, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member representing the Obokun/Oriade federal constituency of Osun State, who urged the lower legislative chamber to investigate the monumental graft surrounding personnel recruitment in government parastatals.
Hon. Oke had claimed that “public institutions have since stopped the process of advertising for jobs and vacancies. Even in the few instances where adverts are published, the slots are already commodified and available for the highest bidders.
“Most institutions now sell employment notwithstanding the qualification of the applicant and the ability of the applicant to perform optimally on the job,” he added.
The committee comprising of one lawmaker per state and the Federal Capital Territory, had Hon. Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau) as Head of the panel, but surprisingly, Hon. Oke who was also not on the list became a very active member of the panel.
Premium Times had carried out detailed investigation of the complaints against the panel which had on 25the July exposed the Federal Character Commission (FCC), for being notorious for aiding and abetting job racketeering.
Investigations have shown that the anti-corruption committee orchestrated its strategy to gain credibility and intimidate agency heads before launching a well-designed scheme to extort money from them through fronts disguised as consultants.
“Those who failed to pay were to be subjected to public humiliation and disgrace during sham public hearings flooded by journalists, cameras and microphones,” the investigations revealed.
For instance, on Tuesday, August 15, some committee members met with heads of the nation’s federally-owned universities, comprising of 51 Vice-Chancellors, which afterwards secretly negotiated N2million bribe from each of them to save themselves from public humiliation and eventual indictment.
They were then given Account Number 5400495458, domiciled in Providus Bank, into which they were to pay the money.
The committee members equally held separate meetings with rectors of the 35 federally-owned polytechnics and provosts of the 27 federally-owned colleges of education, who were each asked to pay N3 million naira bribe.
They were all given a deadline of Thursday, 24 August, to pay or be ready to incur the wrath of the entire House of Representatives, not only in the job racketeering case but in other matters as well.
Over N267 million is estimated to have been collected by the panel in illicit payments, PT reported.
One of the bank accounts into which the bribe payments are being made belongs to a certain Ama Business Solutions, a company fronting for the committee as a consultant.
The company, with registration number 3156889, was incorporated on 12 August 2020 to engage in the business of general contract and merchandising.
Company documents gave the firm’s principal place of business as Plot 2249, Zone 4 Plaza, Constantine Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.
AMA Business Solution has two directors – Abubakar Lawal Sambo (44) and Abdulrahman Lawal Sambo (48).
Both men, who appear to be brothers, claim to be businessmen, according to their corporate filings.
But the older of the brothers, Abdulrahman Sambo, was also profiled as having served as a senior legislative aide to former Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila between 2019 and 2023.
His profile also claims he served in the 2019 APC presidential campaign council and sits on the Board of Chrysalis Youth Foundation, of which Olawale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, is chairperson.
Consequently, the House of Representatives has stated that it will investigate its ad hoc committee for running an allegwd extortion ring.
The spokesperson of the House, Akin Rotimi (APC, Ekiti), in a statement, said the leadership of the House has resolved to investigate the matter.
Mr Rotimi’s statement asked “the members of the public, and any of the affected government entities with evidence related to the allegations, to approach the House for necessary action.”
He said: “We wish to reiterate that Members of the House of Representatives will not be distracted from carrying their mandate as enshrined in Section 89 of the 1999, which gives the National Assembly powers to expose corruption for the good governance of Nigeria.
“In view of the subsisting development, I think the clerk should summon the vice-chancellors to appear through the National Universities Commission on Friday,” he said
