$9.3million arms deal: Pandemonium in House of Reps over fresh $20,000 bribe to block probe

The $9.3million botched arms deal in South Africa continued to tear the House of Representatives apart as riot almost broke out yesterday on the floor of the house following allegations that some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been bribed with $20,000 to stop the House from probing of the cash seized by the South African Government.

On Tuesday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers staged a walk out of the House over what they described as attempts by the PDP members to block a probe into the matter.

Wednesday’s trouble started when the chairman of the Committee on Rules and Business, Albert Sam-Tsokwa (PDP, Taraba), complained that he was embarrassed by stories in some national dailies on the walk-out by the APC lawmakers and reports in a national daily that PDP members in the House were given $50,000 each to halt debate on the motion to investigate the $9.3 million arms deal-gone-bad.

And to members’ dismay, an APC member of the House from Kano, Ali Madaki, confessed that he was the one who broke the bribery allegations to the press. He confirmed that he told a journalist on telephone that he had it on good authority “that PDP members were given $20,000 each” and not $50,000 as was reported.

Madaki’s confession threw the House into rowdiness that lasted for about 10 minutes before order was eventually restored, necessitating the Deputy Speaker to refer the matter to the Ethics and Privileges Committee for investigation.

The PDP deputy leader in the House, Leo Ogor, later described the allegation as unpaliamentary, an embarrassment and an act of blackmail.