JAILED former deputy national chairman (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, may be in for another trouble, as the House of Represent-atives commences a probe into his tenure at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on the processes leading to the sale of NPA’s property.The House declared that “preliminary inquest” showed that several properties were sold and huge sums of money collected by certain people in the NPA, pointing out that there was the need to ascertain whether due process was followed or whether the process was fair, among others.
In particular, the Committee on Marine, headed by Honourable Ifeanyi Ogwuayin, on Wednesday, set up a seven-man ad hoc committee to probe the total properties portfolio of the Federal Government Agency pre-and post-January 31, 2009 and ascertain the total value of the listed properties.
Addressing newsmen, the committee boss, in the company of his members, said the latest move to probe the NPA and its operators in the recent past, was borne out of numerous complaints, petitions and even allegations his committee received.
According to him, the petitions and complaints came from members of staff, retirees, staff unions, stakeholders and the general public, saying such complaints had kept on coming since 2006, alleging sharp practices in the sale of NPA properties.
“Since the inauguration of this committee, we have been inundated with complaints, petitions and even allegations on the sale of NPA properties, started sometime in 2006. These have come from the NPA staff, retirees, their staff unions, stakeholders and the general public. The media has indeed celebrated the matter of sale of NPA properties,” he said.
He disclosed that from preliminary information his committee gathered from the ministry and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), there was the need to expand the scope of “our evaluation to give it more credibility, as well as give everybody a level playing field to state their case.”
The ad hoc committee, which has Honourable Adamu Gora Kalba as chairman, is to work on a seven- term of reference, including itemising the NPA properties sold post-January 31, 2006 to date, their value and the approving authorities; Determine if the sales were properly authorised, if they followed laid down procedure (including the Federal Government sale of properties guidelines), and if there were any wastages.
“Ascertain how much was realised from the sale, its domicile status and if such sum has been properly remitted. “Recommendations to the committee for requisite legislative action and
“Identify other measures that will ensure that future processes are in line with law and guidelines”. The ad hoc has been given six weeks to complete its assignment and submit its report.
Meanwhile, Chief George and others convicted alongside him on Wednesday filed their notice of appeal against the judgment passed on them by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole and a motion of temporary bail pending the determination of appeal at the registry of the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja.
However, immediately after the processes were completed by counsel representing them, they bluntly refused to give journalists copies, hinging their refusal on journalists’ alleged sensationalisation of the reports of their client’s conviction.
Specifically the lawyers who arrived at the court premises and concluded their fillings at about 4.00p.m., pointed out that the media unduly reported that the convicts were sentenced to 28 years imprisonment, the report which they claimed were done in bad taste.
Not minding their presence at the registry and the appeals from journalists requesting for the photocopies of the process, they insisted journalists should have reported two and a half years, which the trial court pronounced on each count.
One of the lawyers who was at the registry even queried the journalists as to where they got their reports. They argued that they had to serve the respondents copies before making the processes available to journalists.
Meanwhile, lawyers from the various chambers representing the applicants effected services on one another and at the same time immediately sent copies to the counsel representing the respondents.
When they were leaving the court, they agreed to a meeting at the chambers of the lead counsel for the defendant, Chief Tunji Ayanlaja (SAN), for subsequent actions on the matter, jettisoning the plea from journalists, despite the document already of a public matter.
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