The House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges on Wednesday barred journalists from covering the hearing on alleged infractions of House rules by four ranking lawmakers of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Chairman of the House committee, Rep. Kolawole Lawal immediately the proceedings began, barred journalists from covering the hearing.
He asked one of the journalists what he was doing at the venue and when he introduced himself as a journalist, the committee chairman simply said “we don’t want journalists to cover us.”
In a letter dated November 14 and signed by the Deputy Chairman of the House committee, Rep. Hamisu Ibrahim requested that Reps Kingsley Chinda, Muraina Ajibola, Chukwuja Onyema and Yakubu Barde allegedly impersonated minority principal officers of the House.
As at 11.45am that journalists who attempted attending the hearing left the venue of the hearing, only an official photographer of the National Assembly was allowed into the venue.
Before the meeting started, the chairman had excused non -lawmakers to enable members of the committee hold a closed door session which lasted for five minutes.
It would be recalled that on November 7, the House mandated its ethics and privileges committee to probe the lawmakers based on a motion promoted by Rep. Ben Igbakpa (PDP/Delta) during plenary.
Only corrupt elite see no difference in FG’s anti-graft war — Sagay
Rep. Igbakpa had in his motion, accused Rep. Kingsley Chinda of impersonating the minority leadership of the House, stating that the four individuals “issued a press statement on behalf of the PDP caucus, parading themselves as minority caucus leaders.”
The matter was referred to the committee on ethics and privilege by Deputy Speaker Idris Wase, who presided over plenary.
But, responding to the allegation, Rep. Chinda said that he is the recognized leader of the PDP caucus with the mandate of the PDP.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.