Frozen accounts: Opposition parties differ over Reps ultimatum to Tinubu
Major opposition parties in the country have blamed President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly over the controversy trailing the freezing of the National Social Investment Programmes Agency’s accounts.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives called on the Federal Government to instruct the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to unfreeze the NSIPA accounts within 72 hours due to the agency’s role in combating hunger and poverty.
This position followed the adoption of a motion during plenary, sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and 20 other lawmakers.
The Tinubu-led government froze the agency’s accounts due to allegations of corruption and questionable dealings to allow for a complete overhaul of its programme.
But the House of Representatives has issued the President 72 hours to unfreeze the accounts after months of inactivity.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH on Wednesday, Deputy National Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Timothy Osadolor, questioned the silence of both the President and the lawmakers following the freezing of the accounts.
Osadolor said, “The truth is that the members of the current National Assembly and the Presidents themselves have realized that Nigerians are experiencing a lot of pain, anger, anguish, and frustration. So, once in a while, there is something we call comic relief in literature. I believe this is another form of comic relief to ease the tensions in the country.
“This current National Assembly enjoys the spotlight and attention. But they cannot accomplish anything, especially with the way they are currently composed.
“If the President had frozen the NSIPA account due to corruption, can the members of the National Assembly, in their oversight role, tell me what audit they have conducted and what conclusions they have reached regarding the lifting of the freeze?”
Osadolor questioned what the President had done to ensure that such mistakes and corruption do not happen again.
“The National Assembly is not ready, the President himself seems clueless about what to do. Once again, it all comes back to comic relief. They are all just joking. Until they get serious about governance, Nigerians are in for a long ride,” he added.
Also speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the National Publicity Secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Ladipo Johnson, noted that the ultimatum was meant to jolt the presidency to take a position on what to do and consequently unfreeze the said accounts.
He said, “I think that the ultimatum by the House of Representatives is just a means of telling him (Tinubu) to get on with whatever he feels needs to be done; whether it is going to be a proper investigation or otherwise instead of leaving the accounts hanging
“I think that is what they are trying to do. They know if they give him an ultimatum, he will be forced to begin to act on the matter. Again, the lawmakers also felt the need to bring it to the notice of Nigerians.”
However, a Labour Party chieftain and the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Yunusa Tanko, raised doubt that despite the warning fired by the lawmakers, no serious action would be taken.
“My problem is that the National Assembly brings out some ills in the society. But when it comes to the point of execution and punishment, they become weak.
“At the end of it all, the presidency may still have an overbearing influence on them because they too have been a beneficiary to some of the misappropriation and other issues that must have happened within the system,” Tanko said.
