BAYO SANNI: THE FACT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED

 

In legislative circles, the norm is to refrain from engaging with any individual after a resolution of the House has been passed.

However, against this established legislative norm, one is constrained to respond to wild allegations made by a former management staff of Harmony Holdings, Mr. Bayo Sanni who, quite ironically, appeared before the 8th Kwara State House of Assembly and was roundly indicted by the House.

Curiously, Mr. Sanni,  five years his sack from Harmony Holdings, has suddenly woken up from deep slumber  ostensibly with the aim of exonerating himself from misdeeds which, after thorough investigations, were traced to him as a functionary of the Holding company, and as was proclaimed by the 8th  Assembly.

While it may not be out of place for an individual who was found wanting in his conduct to seek all manner of ways, reasonable or otherwise,  to abdicate himself of wrongdoings, one is compelled to pronounce Mr. Bayo Sanni’s recent media outing against the Assembly as absurd. More like mediations administered on a patient already pronounced dead.

To set the record straight, the House at its plenary of Thursday, August 17, 2017 debated on a motion titled; “Allegations of Misappropriation relating to Government Assets Under Harmony Holdings Limited”. The motion alleged that the social media was agog with spurious allegations leveled against Harmony Holdings Limited and that there was a need for the Parliament to rise up to the occasion by exposing whoever that is or are involved in the alleged act.

Consequently, by the leave of the House, an ad-hoc Committee to look into the substance or veracity of the allegations with four basic terms of reference was approved and inaugurated by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. (Now Professor) Ali Ahmad.

While the House adopted the Committee’s 40 investigatory strategies (methodology) and debated on its findings as contained in the report, the House forwarded its resolution on the subject matter to the then Executive Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed on the 6th of March, 2018. The then Governor in turn took a proactive decision based on the House Resolutions in the interest of Kwarans.

For the purpose of clarity and fair hearing, the ad-hoc committee paid visits to all the Kwara State properties across the Federation – Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos and Kwara State.

The Committee went ahead to hold meetings with management and staff of Harmony Holdings and other relevant stakeholders. Proceedings at these meetings were taped and recorded as documentary evidences.  The exercise in reference took months to conclude and all individuals invited to appear before the committee were given ample time to express themselves without let or hindrance.

The Harmony Holding management was led by the then Managing Director of the company, Mr. Tope Daramola. Mr. Bayo Sanni himself was one of the management staff that appeared before the House committee and, like others who appeared before the committee, Mr. Sanni got ample time to make both oral and written submissions in his personal defense. The videos, tapes and written documents from the proceedings are now properties of the Kwara State House of Assembly.

Furthermore, because the 8th Assembly worked independently, we were able to come up with investigation, cross examination and resolutions based on series of allegations from the citizenry. It should be noted that all persons tagged during the investigation were summoned to appear in person. Thereby, all their submissions were acted upon appropriately.

This is all the more reason why, Mr. Bayo Sanni’s claim to Sainthood seem to be as a result of knowledge gap because all members took collective responsibility for their legitimate legislative roles in the Chamber and resolutions passed on adopted superior points of view by the whole House. It was also put on record that the leadership of the 8th Assembly remains uncompromising for integrity.

As such, if, after 5 years of the House verdict and His Excellency’s approval, “Saint” Bayo  Sanni has suddenly woken up from deep slumber, he should better direct all his enquiries to all members of 8th Assembly who worked in unity for the interest of Kwarans especially since members of the 8th Assembly still work in unity. We all stand by the collective resolutions of the House.

We thus advise that Mr. Sanni should desist from targeting individuals among us. He should rather address whatever misgivings he has suddenly woken up to at all members of the 8th Assembly as a whole.

We will not pretend that we do not understand the tone under his conjecture by targeting just these persons, though.

Also, we would want to assume that if the acclaimed Saint has anything tangible against House Resolutions, he would not have waited for the whole of five years to come up with it especially now that it is just few weeks to the general elections.

In conclusion, if  “Saint” Sanni is sure of anything against members of the 8th Assembly, he should do the needful instead of creating unnecessary scene by playing to the gallery and becoming a toll in the hands of those who want to take the advantage of his “travail”.

*Hon. Abdulrafiu Abdulrahman,*

*For the 8th Kwara State House of Assembly.*