Members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday denied an allegation that they received $30,000 bribe to jettison plans to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill, 2018.
According to the reps, it is “pure falsehood” intended to intimidate lawmakers to abandon their insistence of changing the sequence of elections ahead of the 2019 polls.
The Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, directed the Committee on Ethics/Privileges to investigate the issue after a member raised it as a matter of privilege.
The member, Abubakar Danburam-Nuhu, who is from Kano State, said the bribery allegation dented his image as a legislator, “especially when it is not true.”
Buhari had rejected the controversial amendment, which sought to change the order of elections by placing the presidential poll last. He withheld his assent to the bill.
But, the House in particular, began a process of passing the bill again for Buhari’s signature.
However, before the referral, lawmakers took turns to express their anger over the allegation and threatened to initiate legal actions against the media houses that published the allegation.
However, Dogara directed that the matter should first be investigated by the Committee on Ethics/Privileges to guide the House on what course of action to take in a law court.
“It is a matter of privilege. By our rules, matters of privilege are investigated by the Committee on Ethics and Privileges,” the Speaker said.
