The House of Representatives has agreed to probe the activities of the Special Presidential Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Public Property. It says it wants to ensure that the panel is operating in line with the law and conforms to best practices.
The panel has been accused of interfering with the activities of the Code of Conduct tribunal. A motion by Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) noted the inauguration of the Special Presidential Investigative Panel (SPIP) pursuant to the Public Property Special Provisions Act, CAP R4 LFN, 2004 otherwise known as Decree No 3, 1984 with the commencement date of 31st December 1983.
The SPIP recently filed an ex-parte motion through Festus Keyamo (SAN) asking the Federal High Court in Abuja to freeze all hidden assets belonging to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
However, Chinda said, “there cannot be two parallel agencies of government no matter the manner of operation undertaking the same functions in whatever guise or form.
"This more so where the functions are so similar that the public are meant to go through repeated processes and procedures which may infringe on their rights and give rise to series of litigation and the consequential loss of revenue both in overheads and the execution of awards in the damages.”
In his ruling, Speaker Yakubu Dogara said the House would set up an ad-hoc committee to probe the modus operandi and legality of the SPIP.