Wike, council chairmen disrespected us, they must be punished – Reps

The House of Representatives has called for sanctions against the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, and six Area Council Chairmen over insubordination and disregard for the House.

A member of the House Committee on FCT Area Council and Ancillary, Ikonne Ifeanyi, made the demand during the committee’s meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, it was a show of disrespect and lack of regard for the House that the Minister and his council chairmen refused to appear before the House after they were needed on invitation.

“Why must we invite someone here and they are giving us the date they will appear? What about the risk people took to be there? We should not be seen pleading for them to appear before us.

“My own decision is that they should be the ones to look for us. If we don’t stop this arrogance, it will not stop.

“Henceforth, we will not approve anything for both the minister and the area council chairmen and as a matter of fact, we will tell the president to remove Wike as the FCT minister.

“I hereby move as a motion to bring this to the floor of the house for them to come and explain why they are not honouring our invitation,” he said.

On his part, the chairman of the committee, Rep. Fredrick Agbedi, said he viewed the action of the minister and the council chairmen as a breach of their constitutional responsibilities and a disservice to the people they serve.

He said the six area council chairmen had not flagged off, completed, or commissioned any project in the area councils, unlike the Minister.

“This is appalling considering the huge monthly allocation running into billions of Naira to each of the six area councils in the last year and beyond,” he said.

Also speaking, Rep. Adesola Adebayo (APC-Lagos), a member of the committee, said the function to oversee the activities of the council areas resides in the House.

He said as former council chairman of Apapa Local Government in Lagos State, the chairmen should know that they are extensions of the state House.

He stated that no chairman dares not to appear before the state House of Assembly because they have the power to remove them.

The lawmaker said he considers the attitude of the area council chairmen as an affront to the House of Representatives.

The committee said the FCT minister and the council chairmen see them as their house boys, saying that such would not be tolerated.