SAN FRANCISCO, February 03, (THEWILL) – Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, walked out on the Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of the House of Representatives on Friday, following heated arguments with members of the committee.
Anyim who was a former Senate President had been summoned by the committee, which is investigating the Centenary City project under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan where Anyim served as AGF.
He accused Herman Hembe, Chairman of the committee of conducting the hearing to pursue personal vendetta, alleging that Hembe solicited bribe from him but that he did not give in to his demand.
He demanded that Hembe should resign from the panel, and allow his deputy take over saying the Chairman had pushed for the sack of a former Director-General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) which he had refused.
“Mr Chairman, what I expect is that I should be able to state my position and you rule,” he said.
“Mr Chairman I said one, you have told everybody who cared to listen that when the former DG of Security and Exchange Commission accused you of demanding bribe from her, you pushed for her to be sacked and I refused to sack her while I was SGF and this is an opportunity to pay me back.
“Mr Chairman I will not allow you to use the national assembly platform to pursue personal vendetta. It is unacceptable and I will not submit to it. All I am asking for is fair hearing.
“You have been threatening to conduct this public hearing for over a year now, in fact you ended last year with it, and this year you started with it. You scheduled it for January 27, but later moved it to February 1, and now moved it to February 3.
“Mr Chairman, we only discovered your game plan for all the postponement, when you started sending message to the managing director of the project to see you privately, and it was after all your efforts to get the managing director to see you privately failed, that you confirmed this date.
“I want you know that nobody will see you privately, and we are here for the hearing, and we will have the hearing.
“I am convinced that Mr Chairman has a deep-seated personal bias in this matter and he is not going to give a fair hearing to myself, to the centenary city management and the entire matter, I accordingly demand that Mr Chairman should disqualify himself and vice-chairman take over and let us continue.”
Speaking earlier,
However, Hembe said he would not allow Anyim usurp his position as Chairman of the committee and expressed dismay that the former senate President accused him of being biased, even before the probe began.
“Let me say that we are a house of laws. We are a house of order. We are a house of due process. Let me just say it to former president of the senate and former SGF that in my opening remarks I have tried to show you courtesy,” Hembe said.
“Please don’t interrupt. As far as this hearing is concerned, I am chairman, and I will not allow you usurp that position.
“I have shown you respect. I even made a comment at the beginning, which I ought not to have made by saying that ‘It was brought to my attention in certain quarters that we shouldn’t have invited the former senate president to a hearing like this, out of sheer respect’.
“Now, before we started the process, Mr former senate president, you have begun to input bias without knowing what we are doing here.
“We haven’t said a word, we haven’t even introduced the probe and you already in putting bias, I’d like to ask you to hold your horse. Let me finish. Don’t interrupt me! Don’t interrupt me! Let me finish! Sit down! Sit down!
“I am a little dismayed that someone who was invited for this programme, felt he ought not to be invited.”
At this juncture, Anyim took his leave while the committee adjourned hearing to Tuesday.
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