NIGERIA:Nigerian legislators traded punches and insults yesterday over a suspected $5 million (€3.5 million) spending spree by the speaker of the House of Representatives that has caused a national scandal and paralysed the house.
Patricia Etteh is under investigation by nine house members over allegations by fellow legislators that she flouted house rules by approving contracts worth $5 million to renovate her official residence and that of her deputy and to buy 12 cars.
Nigeria consistently ranks as one of the world's most corrupt countries in a list drawn up every year by independent watchdog Transparency International. It is the eighth-biggest oil exporter in the world but most people live in poverty.
The furore over Ms Etteh's contracts has been an embarrassing start for the National Assembly, which took office on June 5th following April elections, at a time when new president Umaru Yar'Adua is promising zero tolerance for corruption.
Ms Etteh appeared before the investigation panel in a packed room inside the National Assembly complex yesterday, but when she stood up to give her submission one legislator pointed at her and shouted "Thief! Thief!" in her native Yoruba language.
This caused uproar. Pro- and anti-Etteh legislators shouted abuse at one another. Some clambered over tables to punch others. Ms Etteh was hurried out by security staff who had to use fists and elbows to shove a screaming crowd out of her way.
The committee hearing broke up in chaos and Ms Etteh was unable to deliver her statement, although copies were later circulated.
The document said Ms Etteh had followed due process in approving contracts worth $3 million. But that figure did not include the price of 10 new cars she said were needed for the principal officers of the house, or for her own new furniture.
"I am not in any way driven by extravagance, comfort or personal gain," she said.