……..Insists people are criminally blackmailing the Imo Assembly for political reasons.
Senior Special Assistant to the Speaker, Imo state House of Assembly, Mr. Chukwuemeka Ahaneku, has described calls for the Speaker of the state Assembly to step aside as misleading, stage-managed and diversionary, owing to the constitution of investigative committee of the House to look into the media reported allegations of fraud against the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu.
In a statement issued in Owerri yesterday, Mr. Ahaneku, insisted that such calls were ill-conceived and malicious, as such act of blackmail is being propagated by the sponsors of the Principal author of the allegations, Mr. Samuelson Iwuoha, with a view to divert the attention of the members of the public and openly justify their disrespect to constituted authorities by urging Mr. Iwuoha, to disregard the invitation of the probe committee.
According to the statement: “Our attention has been drawn to some ill-conceived and stage-managed media hypes, urging the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu, to step aside following the constitution of a six member Committee to probe the authenticity of the online and local Magazine reports, which hitherto had published some unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against the person and the office of the Speaker.”
“It should be recalled that the Hon. Ikenna Emeh led ad-hoc Committee probe panel which was inaugurated on the 26th of March, 2014, is saddled with the responsibility of conducting a public hearing on the said allegations with a view to establishing a prima facie evidence to determine the merits of the matter.”
“It should however be noted, that the principal author of the said allegation, Mr. Samuelson Iwuoha, had in no time, petitioned the House of Assembly, urging it to launch a probe against the Speaker with clear and corresponding evidences to back up his claims. Rather, the Honourable Members of the House, in their usual bid of ensuring transparency in the exercise of their legislative functions stumbled into the said publications and subsequently reported back to the House.”
“It should be stated unequivocally, that the House Members, who understands the nitty-gritty of lawmaking are probing the veracity of the reports thoroughly, in order to establish clearly, evidences of corruption or otherwise on the matter.”
“In view of this, it is reckless and against the law of natural justice for anyone to expect the organized and knowledgeable members of the House to unconstitutionally act on gossips and unsubstantiated reports which is tailored and skewed in the imaginations of their sponsors.”
“Also, it must be clarified that the repeated media hype against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over the matter is a calculated smokescreen aimed at hoodwinking members of the public. Consequently, members of the public should know that the on-going probe by the House of Assembly can never undermine the investigations of the anti-graft agency, if actually invited.”
“In this regards, the unsuspecting members of the public and indeed, the uniformed and faceless advocates of political vendetta are enjoined to allow the committee panel do their assigned job diligently, devoid of coercion and sentiments.”
“The general public are hereby advised to shun such antics coming from political jobbers, as the Speaker, who has no skeleton in his cupboard, is ever willing to relinquish his office and appear before the panel to defend himself, if such allegation are however, proven beyond reasonable doubt against him.”
“Against this background however, the Speaker wishes to reaffirm his total commitment to the credibility of the panel to do a thorough job, so that the House could specifically concentrate on its constitutional duties of churning out laws to ensure that Imo State gets better.”
