The Nigeria opposition coalition CUPP has\u00a0 condemned the ongoing
\npurported investigation of its Spokesperson Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere by a
\nCommittee of the House set up by the Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.<\/p>\n
In a statement signed by Kenneth Udeze, “the CUPP describes the
\npurported investigation as an attempt to harass and intimidate the
\nNigerian opposition since the opposition has put its act together and
\nhas been putting the government on its toes. The opposition has held the
\ngovernment accountable and Speaker Gbajabiamila is clearly not
\ncomfortable with that. This attempt to suppress the opposition and
\nmuscle it out of the Nigerian media space will fail.<\/p>\n
“The events at the farce hearing on Monday, 18th May 2020 was a clear
\nattempt to intimidate the opposition and the media and ensure they only
\npublish pro public news. The military attempted this and failed. Speaker
\nGbajabiamila who obviously would have boasted to his masters that he
\nwould succeed to take out the opposition from the media space will fail
\nin this agenda and fall like a pack of cards.<\/p>\n
“We have reviewed the statements by our Spokesperson including all his
\npress statements and press conferences and we declare that they were all
\nin line with international best practices expected by the opposition and
\nwe pass a vote of confidence on our National spokesperson Ikenga Imo
\nUgochinyere. He has held our flag flying high and he will keep doing
\nthat no matter the amount of coordinated attacks from the likes of
\nSpeaker Femi Gbajabiamila.<\/p>\n
“The exposition of the very shady, ugly and shameful past of Speaker
\nGbajabiamila in the US by our spokesperson is obviously one of the
\nreasons why the Speaker has resorted to this misguided action of using
\nthe institution of the House to pursue his personal, narrow, selfish and
\nundemocratic course.<\/p>\n
“If allegations were made against the Speaker directly, on what moral
\nand statutory grounds does he has stood to constitute a Committee to
\ninvestigate him? Was the speaker not ashamed of himself when the
\nCommittee announced to a shocked audience at the hearing that they had
\nalready taken his evidence in private without any person including his
\nadversary being notified of the seating or even availed the opportunity
\nof being present?<\/p>\n
“Was Speaker Gbajabiamila not worried by the fact that against all
\nstatutory and judicial authorities including the very rules of the House
\nover which he presides that the Chairman of the Committee insisted on
\nsitting even when the subject matter of the sitting was already being
\ndetermined by a court of competent jurisdiction? Or does the Speaker who
\nprides as a lawyer not understand the doctrine of lis pendis? Was
\nSpeaker Gbajabiamila not shocked that the Committee conducted a guided
\nhearing on 18th May moving like a taxi that had been told by the
\npassenger where he was headed and they were moving with precision to
\nindict Ikenga and decapitate the opposition? Has he also never read the
\nprovisions of Order 9 Rule 5 of the House Rules? What else has he not
\nread that he should have read?<\/p>\n
“It has become manifest that speaker Femi Gbajabiamila in his blind rage
\nagainst the Nigerian opposition and the opposition Spokesperson is now
\nready and willing to lead the House down the path of lawlessness.
\nOtherwise, how could the Speaker so flagrantly violate the rule of
\nnatural justice and wants to be a judge in his own case? Speaker
\nGbajabiamila should note that it is time to stop his grandstanding and
\nstop using the Honourable House for his personal preservation.<\/p>\n
“Speaker Gbajabiamila is hereby called upon to step aside along with his
\nDeputy who is also a co accuser of the CUPP for a neutral person to
\npreside and set up a Committee and he would see how the truth of his
\nactivities in the sponsorship of the Infectious Diseases Bill 2020 would
\nbe shown to the world.<\/p>\n
“We have also commenced consultation with the leadership of the Peoples
\nDemocratic Party over the activities of some of its members who are
\nwilling tools in the hand of the Speaker and the ruling APC to be doing
\ntheir hatchet job. Would it not have been the role of an opposition
\nmember to ensure that the Constitution and all other extant laws are
\nobeyed by institutions of state? How disappointed are we that an
\nopposition lawmaker in the person of Hon. Henry Nwawuba is the one
\ndriving the vehicle on this ill-fated journey to shame? Even after he
\nwas duly informed that the matter he was investigating was subject of a
\njudicial process, he continued, adjourned and insisted on using all his
\npowers to secure the attendance of our Spokesperson to his illegal
\nsitting. We never knew Hon. Henry Nwawuba is now the Nigerian Supreme
\nCourt that has the final adjudicatory powers in the country. We hope the
\nmoles in PDP will be identified through this process and appropriate
\npunishment meted out to them.<\/p>\n
“Let it be made clear to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila that the Nigerian
\nopposition will not indulge him neither are we ready to massage his ego.
\nWe will also not encourage nor support his desecrating the House of
\nRepresentatives any further. Thereby, our Spokesman Ikenga Imo
\nUgochinyere will not be attending the illegal, unconstitutional and
\ncontemptuous sitting of his undemocratic Committee led by Hon. Henry
\nNwawuba. Our legal representatives will be sent again to remind him of a
\npendency of a suit at the Federal High Court on the subject matter of
\nhis sitting wherein the clerk of the House of Representatives has been
\nserved, the Clerk of the National Assembly has been served and other
\nrelevant parties. They will also remind him that by the Rules of the
\nHouse he should not continue sitting but where he insists on going on
\nthey have also been instructed to inform him that they would proceed
\nagainst him in contempt. This attempt at naked show of power will end
\nlike those before him.<\/p>\n
“Speaker Gbajabiamila whose private Committee refused to grant any
\naudience whatsoever to the legal representative of our Spokesperson was
\nthe same person who did not attend Court but sent legal representatives
\nwhen the opposition secured criminal summons against him from a court of
\ncompetent jurisdiction on allegations of pilfering money belonging to
\nhis client in the USA. He is the same man whose committee says they will
\nnot listen to any legal representative. Nigerians have clearly seen the
\nundemocratic tendencies of the Speaker and his inclination to
\nlawlessness. But this will not last we assure you.”<\/p>\n
The Nigeria opposition coalition CUPP has\u00a0 condemned the ongoing purported investigation of its Spokesperson Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere by a Committee of the House set up by the Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n