Reps Invite Amaechi, Others over Alleged N1trillion Rail Contract Scam

 

Members of the adhoc committee of the House of Representatives on failed rail contracts have summoned the Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, Seyi Sijuwade; former Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr Mohammed Bello Haliru; and former Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, to explain their roles in the alleged N1 trillion rail contracts scam, according to the Vanguard.

The adhoc committee is headed by Ehoizuwa Johnson Agbonayinma, PDP, Ikpoba/Oha Federal Constituency. They are expected to appear before the committee tomorrow during the investigative hearing.

Chairman of the adhoc committee, Agbonayinma, confirmed that all the stakeholders had been duly informed and were expected to show up unfailingly tomorrow.

Asked why the Minister of Transport was invited, despite the fact that he is barely three months old in office, Agbonayinma said:

“The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, was also invited to tell us all he knows, though he just assumed office but you know government is a continuum.

“This 8th House is 100 per cent in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s crusade against any formof corruption.

“We are not out to witch-hunt anybody but anyone found wanting in the course of this investigative hearing will be adequately exposed although as you are aware, not until it is proven by a competent court that such persons are guilty you can’t say they are guilty.”

It would be recalled that during the last investigative hearing on December 10, former chairman of the NRC board, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had denied that during his tenure, no contract was awarded by the board he chaired. Tukur, a former chairman of PDP, had told the adhoc committee that the Procurement Act excluded the NRC Board from participating in theaward of railway contracts.

“The Board which I chaired, was never involved in any contract award and was never told or invited to participate in issues of contract award of financial disbursement,” he said.