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By Our Reporter, Delta state
Dignity and decorum were thrown to the wind over the weekend when the House of Representatives deputy leader and member representing Isoko Federal constituency in the lower chambers, Mr. Leo Ogor Okuweh engaged the Isoko youth president, Comrade Isaac Ogaga Egbuwoku in a physical brawl.
Trouble started at the country home of the Federal lawmaker shortly after the 1999 constitution review public hearing held at the Opute hall, Ozoro, headquarters of Isoko North local government area of Delta state when the youth leader and his followers besieged the lawmaker’s home waiting to be paid their money for services rendered at the hearing. Though, a cross section of Isoko ethnic nationality who attended the hearing described it as mere political jamboree.
The physical brawl between the lawmaker and the youth leader witnessed by our reporter which lasted five minutes at the instance of the member representing Isoko North constituency in the state house of Assembly, Mr. Tim Owhofere, Special Assistant to the SSG, Mr. Mike Ogwa and the pioneer speaker of the state Assembly and Chief Adviser to the governor on legislative matters, Mr. Emmanuel Okoro among others attracted security, youths and other persons waiting the lawmaker to attended to them.
It was gathered that as soon as the Federal lawmaker and the youth leader attacked each other, some thugs suspected to be working under the instruction of the lawmaker pounced on the youth leader for engaging their boss in a physical combat in their presence without any atom of respect.
Youth bodies and organizations who besieged the lawmaker’s country home waiting to be paid their money after their services at the public hearing, however described the action of the lawmaker as uncivilized and undemocratic.
Eye witnesses who confided in our reporter said that the youth leader who came out of the lawmaker’s house with his shirt torn, left the compound with his followers in anger without the said money that generated the fight.
According to eye witnesses, shortly after the youth leader and his followers had left in anger, the lawmaker again engaged some other youths waiting in his compound to be attended to and few minutes later he gathered them and gave out some money which the youths shared among themselves.
Confirming the story in a telephone interview, the youth leader told our reporter that he was at the lawmakers’ residence to collect the money he promised to pay the youths who rendered him security services at the public hear of the constitution review but was in the other way round treated with disdain.
“Yes, the Honourable and I fought in his house because he lacks manner of approach. The behaviour of the lawmaker who had agreed that I mobilize for him twenty youths to the arena of the public hearing was barbaric and uncivilized. As an honourable member of the lower chambers, he ought to have comported himself in a more matured manner rather than addressing everybody like touts working in the motor park. Instead of releasing the money we both agreed for the youths, he was busy ridiculing me and playing over my intelligent because I was in his house.”
However the youth leader boasted that the lawmaker was luck that his thugs were cautioned if not something terrible would have happened in the premises.
Our reporter gathered that the lawmaker following what he always described as pestering by the people he represents in the national Assembly had boasted that without the people he will still find his way back for the forth time to the national Assembly come 2015 with over a billion naira he was said to have kept to prosecute his election.
When contacted, the lawmaker ignored all calls put across to his mobile phone neither did he respond to SMS sent to him but one of his aides debunked the story saying that it was all lies that his boss didn’t fight with anybody.