Reps threaten to stop Buhari probes if…

Members of the House of Representatives have thrown their weight behind the anti-corruption probe of the present administration but with a caveat, that it would take a second look at it if it becomes tilted unfairly against a person or group of persons.
The Representatives said they would support the probe whole-heartedly even if at the end the National Assembly is caught up in it.
“Once the National Assembly discovers that this anti-corruption pursuit is tilted unfairly, may be against a person or group of persons, they will query it. But as of now, we are not entertaining any fear. We will support it, even if that corruption probe will involve the National Assembly. We just have to clean up this country because corruption actually reduces our humanity to the barest level,” the Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Mohammed Sani Zorro, said in Lagos on Sunday.
He said the scope of the anti-corruption probe could be widened and extended to 1999 but such move remains the prerogative of the executive arm of the government, adding that the legislature however has the right to check it if it is going astray.
“What the parliament does is to check the excesses, if any, of whatever process that the executive implements”, he said.

Read also: Reps intensify lobby for committees

Zorro, who was a former National Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), also disclosed that the Reps were ready to cut their salary just as the President Mohammadu Buhari, his Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and some governors have done as a submission to the wishes of Nigerians.
I am here to reveal to you that as a result of the consistent outcry by Nigerians, who have been taking critical exception to the funding of the National Assembly, the House has decided to review the holistic funding of its activities.
“This review will also result in right sizing the funding of the various aspects of our activities. We have already put a mechanism in motion to achieve that. It may also result in the drastic cut of our finances be they salaries, allowances and running cost. We are conscious of our integrity; we will lead by example.
“What I can assure you is that we are submitting to the will of the people as a responsive and responsible legislative institution. We can no longer ignore the popular wishes of the Nigerian people who elected us in the first place. Even if the measures that we will consider will inconvenience us, we will rather make that sacrifice and respect the views of the Nigerian people once and for all,” Zorro said.

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