Senate clears Saraki, Dogara, deputies of alleged N600 million rent fraud

The Senate yesterday cleared all four presiding officers of the National Assembly of any complicity in an alleged N600 million house rent fraud.This came on the heels of a disclosure that the gatehouse in the new official residence of the vice president was awarded at the cost of N250 million.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dino Melaye, declared that there was no iota of truth in the allegation.

Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara and their deputies, Ike Ekweremadu and Lasun Yusuff, had been accused of collecting N600 million from the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) as rent.

Melaye added: “The gate house of the Vice President’s residence was also awarded at over N250 million. We are going to call for a review of that contract and Julius Berger said they are going to build a concrete building.”

Also yesterday’s the chamber’s Committee on Customs and Excise queried the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), for failing to don uniform since 2015 when he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Responding, Ali said being a former military officer, the statue does not permit him to wear any other uniform. A response that drew the ire of Melaye who cited that Gen. Halidu Hananiya (rtd) wore the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) uniform when appointed the Corps Marshall, but the Customs CG countered, saying Hananiya erred.