COSMAS EKPUNOBI, Abuja

Though Senate and the anti-Etteh camp in the house were said to be under pressure to dump their offensive against the speaker, the arrow head in the attack, Hon. Halims Agoda insisted yesterday that there is no going back.

Hon. Agoda, in a telephone interview with Saturday Champion vowed that not even the Senate nor any other force can stop the offensive because it is a Nigerian project and not a personal thing.

According to him, tax payers’ money is involved and sweeping such scam under the carpet would be a contradiction to the fight against corruption, which is the hallmark of the present government.

He specifically told Saturday Champion that he would not succumb to any pressure from anywhere to dump the fight, even as he said he has nothing personal against the speaker.

Senate in what may have jolted Etteh’s camp in the house, insisted that its hands are tied.

Deputy senate leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba in a telephone interview with Saturday Champion" also ruled out senate’s intervention in the N628 million contract scam in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

According to him, these are two different houses and such matter is better left for the house itself to handle.

Speaking further, the senator said "I am not aware that the Senate has a plan to wade into the matter, at least not to my knowledge."

Saturday Champion however gathered that the leadership of the senate had in a meeting, Tuesday, resolved to distance the upper chamber from the alleged contract scam.

Source said that Senate president, David Mark, had suspended his foreign trip on Monday following the crisis in the house.

Principal officers of the Senate who were at the Tuesday meeting, were also said to be divided over the matter. According to the source, most of the senators advised the senate president to stay away from the matter since the speaker who is in America had not invited the senate into the issue.

But just as the meeting could not resolve to save Etteh’s job, forces against her were said to have invaded the senate to enlist the support of some senators in the offensive.

Saturday Champion further gathered that some of the senators, mainly the Muslim faithfuls who believed that the election of Mrs. Etteh was against their belief, had offered to assist the opposition in the house.

Also, some northern lawmakers who believe that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has a hand in the election of Etteh as speaker have vowed to unseat her.

The fight to unseat Etteh notwithstanding the motive behind it, seems to be leaving the ambits of the legislators and may soon be decided by public opinion as the ever vocal Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has already called for the speaker’s probe.

For labour, renovating the official quarters of the affected officers with such amount of money is nothing but outrageous, especially since the same structures had just been vacated by their predecessors.

According to the NLC "In a society like ours with so much poverty, public officers must reflect this reality in all they do. This outrageous expenditure reflects the mindset and insensitivity of many public officers who think their positions should be used to further impoverish the public."

The NLC therefore threw its weight behind the anti-Etteh camp, urging the house to redeem its image in the eyes of Nigerians by investigating the matter with a view to ensuring a refund of public funds so mindlessly wasted.