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Uneasy calm in Senate over N10m gift to Iyabo Obasanjo-led committee on health
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Iyabo Obasanjo
An air of uneasy calm and apprehension now pervades the chambers of the Senate over the alleged N10-million Christmas gift to the members of its committee on health from the N300-million being the unspent budgetary allocation to the ministry of Health in 2007.
The scandal has already claimed the two ministers of health with 14 top officials of the Ministry suspended indefinitely.
The sack of the ministers by President Umaru Yar’Adua over their involvement in the sharing of the money has turned public attention to the committee, a situation some of the senators acknowledged and discussed in subdued tones yesterday.
“We know the decision to remove the ministers has whether we like it or not put the ball in our [Senate] court. Somehow, we have to come out with a position that will not portray us as condoning graft,” a senator who did not wish to be named told Business Day yesterday.
The Senate committee on health headed by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of former president Olsegun Obasanjo, was alleged to have been given the money as Christmas gift but another claim was that only N4.5-million of the amount was actually shared among committee members. It was also learnt that the committee had claimed that the amount was meant for a seminar scheduled to have held in Ghana last year but shifted till later this year.
Sources in the Senate disclosed yesterday that the leadership of the upper chamber is currently in a dilemma over how to handle the matter following the forced resignation of the minister of health and minister of state, Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku respectively over the scandal.
The alleged ‘Greek gift’ to the health committee has become the subject of discussions among senators but none is prepared to comment openly with one senator saying “it is a sensitive issue that I will not want to comment on.” It could not be ascertained what action the leadership of the Senate would take on the issue but it was learnt that many senators were not comfortable with the scandal as it would portray many of them as being corrupt.
Sources however revealed that the health committee was not the only guilty party as “there are unconfirmed allegations that many committees with oversight functions on government parastatals and agencies had benefited from similar gifts.” Since the scandal was brought to public domain, neither Obasanjo-Bello nor any of the committee members has reacted to the allegation.
The sack of the ministers by President Umaru Yar’Adua over their involvement in the sharing of the money has turned public attention to the committee, a situation some of the senators acknowledged and discussed in subdued tones yesterday.
“We know the decision to remove the ministers has whether we like it or not put the ball in our [Senate] court. Somehow, we have to come out with a position that will not portray us as condoning graft,” a senator who did not wish to be named told Business Day yesterday.
The Senate committee on health headed by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of former president Olsegun Obasanjo, was alleged to have been given the money as Christmas gift but another claim was that only N4.5-million of the amount was actually shared among committee members. It was also learnt that the committee had claimed that the amount was meant for a seminar scheduled to have held in Ghana last year but shifted till later this year.
Sources in the Senate disclosed yesterday that the leadership of the upper chamber is currently in a dilemma over how to handle the matter following the forced resignation of the minister of health and minister of state, Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku respectively over the scandal.
The alleged ‘Greek gift’ to the health committee has become the subject of discussions among senators but none is prepared to comment openly with one senator saying “it is a sensitive issue that I will not want to comment on.” It could not be ascertained what action the leadership of the Senate would take on the issue but it was learnt that many senators were not comfortable with the scandal as it would portray many of them as being corrupt.
Sources however revealed that the health committee was not the only guilty party as “there are unconfirmed allegations that many committees with oversight functions on government parastatals and agencies had benefited from similar gifts.” Since the scandal was brought to public domain, neither Obasanjo-Bello nor any of the committee members has reacted to the allegation.
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