Nigeria’s House of Representatives was on Thursday, thrown into a rowdy session as deputy spokesperson, Philip Agbese alleged that some minority lawmakers received $50,000 bribe each to endorse Ikenga Imo-Ugochinyere as the House Minority Leader.
Agbese in a point of order, alleged that his signature was forged, demanding that the House investigate the matter to protect the integrity of the legislature and the lawmakers involved.
The matter turned into a shouting match on the floor as lawmakers from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC called for Ugochinyere to be referred to the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges for investigation over the claims; a move that was resisted by Ugochinyere’s supporters.
Against the House Speaker’s efforts to calm tensions, majority of the opposition lawmakers insisted that Ugochinyere be allowed to defend himself, demanding that he must be given an opportunity to respond to allegations raised by Agbese.
After a prolong disagreement among lawmakers, the Speaker yielded the floor to Ikenga Imo-Ugochinyere.
Ugochinyere explained that Agbese was among the 61 lawmakers that endorsed him for the minority leadership position, promising that witnesses will be provided with evidence of him signing the register in due course.
He wondered why members of the ruling party were more interested in the leadership of the minority parties in the House, arguing that the process leading to his endorsement followed legislative procedure but promised to abide by the decision of the House Speaker to address the matter internally for now.
Despite calls by lawmakers of the APC extraction for an immediate referral of the matter to the Ethics and Privileges Committee, the House Speaker maintained that the matter would be appropriately investigated in line with the rules of the House.
This development follows Thursday’s endorsement of Ikenga Imo-Ugochinyere by 61 out of the 81 minority lawmakers in the House as the Minority Leader-designate; a letter that was formally submitted to Speaker of the House, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas, for announcement.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
