$.5m bribe tears Senate panel on Rivers apart
The committee set up by the senate to investigate the political crisis ravaging Rivers state legislature may have run into a credibility storm following allegations that some members pocketed a $500,000 bribe.
In a swift reaction, chairman of the panel, Senator Kabiru Gaya dismissed the allegation as “wicked, false, diversionary, and a calculated attempt to rubbish my committee.”
Gaya’s committee spent two days in Port Harcourt, the state capital, taking oral and written testimonies from key players in the crisis.
Apart from Governor Chibuike Amaechi, the committee met with controversial Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, State Director, State Security Services, Olusegun Agbaje, as well as commander, Joint Task Force (JTF) Maj. Gen. Bata Debiro, among other security officials.
The panel also met with Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, two former deputy speakers of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche and Austin Opara, former senator Lee Maeba, among other stakeholders.
Three highly placed sources told Pointblanknews.com that some members of the committee successfully convinced one of the camps in the crisis to part with $500,000 “to tilt the report in their favour.”
Pointblanknews.com gathered that, not to be outdone, each of the warring camps had planted moles in either camp to supply vital information.
A former top official of the federal government from the state was said to have confronted a top member of the Gaya committee with shocking details of how the bribe money was delivered, including the exact time and location.
The former government official, Pointblanknews.com gathered, had warned the senator of the consequences of doctoring their report.
A senator from one of the camps was said to have acted as a go-between with members of the committee.
All the members of the Gaya-led panel jetted back to Abuja Saturday aboard an aircraft operated by Aero contractors. They all reportedly flew business class.
However, Gaya, who doubles as chairman, Senate committee on states and local governments, told Pointblanknews.com that he couldn’t have been part of any plot to take bribe from either camp.
“Check my records. I was governor of Kano State twenty years ago. I know the importance of this assignment. Go and check, we had police and SSS presence round the clock, so how could any of us have taken money from any of the camps?” Gaya posed.
He added, “In any case, I am presenting my report on Wednesday. The presentation shall be done on live TV for the whole world to see. So, if I took bribe, the whole world shall see. It is very sad that people always cook up stories to discredit others. This is sad.”