House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas
Reps Speaker denies squabble with Imo governor over allocation of ‘juicy committee’ to PDP lawmaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has denied widely reported claims of a squabble with the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma over allocation of a ‘juicy’ committee to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member of the Lower Chambers, representing Ideato North/South Federal Constituency of the same, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere.
According to the reports, Governor Uzodinma of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was engaged in a dispute with the Reps Speaker over the latter’s decision to allocate a committee considered as ‘juicy’ to Hon. Ugochinyere of the opposition party in the state to head.
The reports further claimed that both the Speaker and the Imo governor are now at loggerheads over the allocation.
However, reacting to the claims, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Abdullahi Krishi, the Speaker described the media reports as ‘fictitious’ and ‘malicious,’ just as he urged the public ‘to discountenance the report completely, as it is entirely the figment of the overheated imagination of the writer and his sponsors.’
“The Speaker wishes to inform the public that at no time did the Imo State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodinma, contact him to rescind the appointment of Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere as the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).
“For the record, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen enjoys a cordial relationship with Governor Hope Uzodinma and nothing has happened to warrant any sour relationship between them.
“It is worthy to note that Speaker Abbas Tajudeen was overwhelmingly voted by 353 out of 360 members of the House on June 13th, 2023 under the platform of the ‘Joint Task Coalition for Nation Building’ of the 10th House of Representatives. As such, the Speaker, and indeed the leadership of the House, have the responsibility to ensure that chairmanship of the Standing Committees of the House and responsibilities are assigned to elected lawmakers across political parties.
“Suffice to say, there is no element of truth whatsoever in the story under reference. The Speaker, therefore, urges the public to discountenance the report completely, as it is entirely the figment of the overheated imagination of the writer and his sponsors.
“The Speaker also wishes to distance himself from any group or groups parading themselves as working for him. Such groups are cautioned and advised to desist from going about in the name of protecting the interest of the Speaker as they do not have his imprimatur so to do,” read the statement.
