Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Engr. Chinedum Orji, has said the House is on annual recess and has not abandoned its duties.
The Assembly had on July 10, 2021, vacated for its annual recess.
There are reports that the Assembly has been shut down following the absence of the Speaker.
But the Speaker, in a release by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Jude Ndukwe, stated that mischief makers mistook the annual vacation of the Assembly for abandonment of duties.
He disclosed that members have been sitting and carrying out oversight functions, assuring that the House will not allow itself to be derailed by the antics of mischievous individuals
According to the Speaker; “My attention has been drawn to an obviously sponsored publication where laborious but vain attempts were made to misrepresent the annual vacation of the Abia State House of Assembly as an abandonment of duty in order to mislead unsuspecting members of the public.
“While such mischievous publications have remained the antics of political jobbers who are perpetually aggrieved, it is important to state that such shenanigans to get Mr Speaker’s attention has always failed and will continue to fail as Mr Speaker and his Honourable Colleagues at the 7th Abia State House of Assembly are too focused on very important State matters to be distracted by the antics of these mischievous individuals.
“But for the purpose of clarity to well meaning Abians, it is important to state that the annual recess from plenary, which is only one aspect of Legislative business, is not recess from duty, as the House Committees have been sitting and carrying out their oversight functions.
He further explained that the annual recess is not peculiar to the Abia State House of Assembly, but also a nationwide tradition which also involves the National Assembly.
“Annual recess of the legislature is not peculiar to Abia State but is a nationwide tradition as even the two chambers of the national assembly are also currently on their annual vacation. It is the same with the judiciary nationwide. So, why should the case of the Abia State House of Assembly be turned to a subject of malicious propaganda, if not for mischief?
“The Abia State House of Assembly will neither succumb nor subject itself to the antics, mischief and propaganda of these mischievous individuals.”