The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, says the stamp duty funds controversy involving a member of the House, Gudaji Kazaure, has nothing to do with the National Assembly.
Gbajabiamila said this while speaking to State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Speaker said he discussed various national issues with President Buhari, including the 2023 general election and the controversies trailing the cashless policy recently introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It would be recalled that Kazaure, a member of the House of Reps from Jigawa State, in a viral video, allegedly accused the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, of attempts to cover up facts surrounding the collection of the controversial stamp duty funds.
He also alleged that he was deliberately being denied access to present preliminary report of a committee set up by Buhari to look into the alleged stamp duty funds being withheld by the CBN.
The lawmaker equally urged President Buhari to either allow him to present his report to him or immediately order a thorough investigation of the alleged stamp duty funds.
The Presidency later dismissed Kazaure’s claims that Emefiele could not account for about N89.1 trillion the CBN allegedly collected as stamp duty charges.
Speaking on Tuesday, Gbajabiamila ruled out intervention from the House of Representatives, saying that would only happen if it becomes necessary.
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The Speaker stressed that the matter has nothing to do with the House, saying: “Kazaure, from my understanding, is working with whoever he’s working with. If it necessitates the House coming in, we will come in.
“If he has an official function, he should go ahead and do his work, but this has nothing to do with National Assembly. Not that I know of.
“It was not based on a resolution of the National Assembly. It was not based on a motion from the National Assembly.
“I believe he said he had executive authority to do what he’s doing. If that be the case, then it’s got nothing to do with the National Assembly.”
Gbajabiamila stated that the House can only call Kazaure to order if he was impugning the integrity of the House, individuals, or leadership of the House that have nothing to do with what he was doing.
“I think it’s important to separate the two. If he has a mandate to do something, that’s on him.
“When it came up, we have asked members of the executive, they said they were not aware of any mandate, or such mandate has been withdrawn.
“I don’t want to get into it, except to the extent that he attempts to impugn on the integrity of members of the House and that’s a no no. We have nothing to do with this,” Gbajabiamila added.
On his meeting with President Buhari, Gbajabiamila said his visit was routine, adding that they had discussions on critical national issues.
“We discussed things that came up in the last few weeks, things come up every day in Nigeria, every day and in the last few days, some things have come up.
“I’m sure you know some of these things, and I just wanted to get his perspective on them and give him mine and that of the National Assembly’s perspective and position on those matters. We had a fruitful discussion,” the Speaker disclosed.
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