The Kwara State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has urged anti-graft agencies to probe the allegations of fraud against House of Assembly Speaker Razak Atunwa.

It said the funds involved belonged to the state, adding, "anything short of this amounts to testing the will of our people."

A member of the House representing Ipaiye/Malete/Oloru Constituency, Iliasu Ibrahim, had accused the Speaker of high-handed conduct and fraud.

The ACN Chairman in the state, Kayode Olawepo, said in a statement that "the party is disturbed about the happenings in our dear state, especially the dance of shame in the House of Assembly, the overbearing attitude of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which now determines how the House is run, and the inhuman treatment meted out to Ibrahim just for speaking out against what he deemed to be the corrupt tendencies of Speaker Atunwa."

He said: "Firstly, we reject the outcome of the Kangaroo committee which dismissed the petitions written against Speaker Atunwa. The haste with which the committee concluded its assignment raised genuine concerns about possible hijack by the PDP leadership.

"The allegations levelled against Atunwa were made against him as the speaker, not as a PDP member. Therefore, its investigation must involve members of the opposition party in the House to show that it was not treated as a purely PDP affair. That did not take place.

"The outcome of the investigation was that all the allegations were baseless. It should be noted that the allegations include the fact that since the inception of the House in June 2011, no account of the monthly expenditure of the House has been published and made available to members and that the Speaker keeps the information exclusively to himself. If this allegation is baseless, where are the accounts? 

"The only acceptable answer to that allegation is to point to the accounts to show that they do exist. This has not been done and cannot be done because none exists and the allegation was correct.

"The suspension of Iliasu, the whistleblower, hours after the committee submitted its report and the sack of the House leadership, save for Atunwa and his deputy, just on the strength of a letter from the PDP leadership in the state are enough testament to the impunity and corruption of the PDP. 

"That Atunwa was bold enough to read such a letter on the floor of the House attests to the shamelessness of the PDP as a whole. How can the House leadership of a two-party parliament be sacked at the promptings of a particular political party?"

Reacting to the development, PDP Director of Publicity in the state, Alhaji Ma'sud Adebimpe, said: "As a party, we will continue to do what is right for the greater majority of our people irrespective of the attempt to mislead the people by those whose existence has no meaning to the people.

"PDP is not surprised by the mischievous position canvassed by the ACN.  PDP is the only legal political party in the state."