/House of Reps ReportAn Abuja High Court sitting in Jabi, Abuja, has restrained the House of Representatives and security agencies from acting on the House Committee on FCT’s report on the probe into alleged fraud discovered in the Centenary City Project in Abuja.
A copy of the court’s enrolled order, showed that Justice U. A Musale granted the interim restraining order on May 4, 2017 based on an ex-parte application by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim.
Recall that a report indicting Anyim was said to have been submitted to the House of Representatives by the Committee led by a House member, Mr. Herman Hembe.
The report was adopted by the whole House of Representatives on March 16, 2017.
After listening to Anyim’s lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) on May 4, Justice Musale directed that the House of Representatives and security agencies should not, in the interim, act on the House committee’s report.
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The judge ordered that the report should not be acted upon pending the hearing and determination of Anyim’s motion on notice seeking to make the restraining order to last till the determination of the substantive suit.
The order of the court read, “An order of interim injunction restraining the Respondents by themselves, or through any of the security agencies, privies or agents, from acting on the report of the House Committee on FCT which was adopted on the floor of the whole House of Representatives on the Thursday, 16th March, 2017, pending the hearing and determination of the motion notice.”
The affidavit deposed to by a Litigation Secretary in Ozekhome’s law firm, Mr. Usman Salihu, gave the grounds for Anyim’s objection to the House Committee’s report.
One of the grounds was that Anyim, a former President of the Senate, was wrongly invited by the Clerk of the House Committee on FCT instead of the Clerk of the National Assembly.
In addition, Salihu stated that it was brought to the attention of the House Committee that its counterpart in the Senate had conducted its probe and issued a report which “not only exonerated the applicant of any wrongdoing, but also extolled his virtues and praised his efforts”.
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