Speaker of Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson, and 23 other members of the assembly are battling with the allegation that they mismanaged N78m belonging to the state under false pretences that they attended a conference in South Africa.
The allegation was first made public through a petition addressed to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, by a civil society group, Transparency and Good Governance Coalition.
Benson and other lawmakers were said to have written to Governor Seriake Dickson, demanding the money to attend the 43rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in South Africa from June 29 to July 8.
Dickson was said to have approved the money on June 28 on condition that it must be used for the conference.
The civil society group, in the petition obtained by our correspondent, alleged that the Speaker collected the money and disbursed it to all the members.
The petition read in part, “Unknown to Bayelsans, the Speaker and other members of the Bayelsa House of Assembly allegedly never attended the conference but simply allegedly converted the fund given to them to their personal use.
“While the conference which started on the 29th of June was underway, the Speaker and members of the Assembly were reportedly and allegedly engaged in a frolic of their own in Nigeria until the 7th of July 2012.”
It was also alleged that the Speaker and the other legislators left the country for South Africa on July 7, got to South Africa in the morning of July 8 without attending the conference.
The group, in the petition signed by its Coordinator, Mr. U.F. Mohammed, said the lawmakers after returning to the country, claimed that the conference was successful and that they were better equipped to perform their functions.
The group appealed to the IG to investigate the allegation and ensure that the legislators were brought to book, recalling that a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Herman Hembe, is facing trial at an Abuja High Court for a similar offence.
However, our correspondent learnt that only a few lawmakers attended the conference.
While some of them that could not attend the programme refunded their money, others were said to have pocketed theirs.
The source, who pleaded anonymity said, “Most of them collected the money but failed to attend the programme. They simply ended up travelling to South Africa on the day the conference was scheduled to end. Only three of them, attended the conference.
“The former acting governor of the state did not collect the money because initially he said he was not interested. The former Deputy Speaker, collected the money but refunded it when he realised that he could not meet up”.
Spokesman for the Speaker, Mr. Piriye Jonathan, said those who made the allegation “were ignorant”.
He said Benson had keyed into the transparency of the state government and would not support any act of corruption.
“I was on the team that attended that conference. There was a conference and we attended,” he said.
