Reps move to suspend Ugochinyere over politicisation of oversight function

The House of Representatives is set to suspend Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere, the Chairman House Committee on Petroleum DownStream over politicisation of oversight function in Rivers State.

Rep. Yusuf Gagdi (APC-Plateau), while moving a motion of personal explanation at the plenary in Abuja on Thursday told the House that his privilege as a member of the house had been bridged.

He said that some media publication reported that about 50 members of the House paid a solidarity visit to Gov. Similaye Fubara of Rivers during their visit to the state.

He added that such a statement issued by Ugochinyere was in a bad taste and made the House look like it was taking a position in political matters.

He said that the report presented the story as though the members visited the governor on behalf of the House whereas, they were in Rivers for oversight function and decided to greet the governor.

Gagdi said that after the visit, Ugochinyere issued a statement which was published in the media, adding that this made their visit look like they were a delegation of the House to visit the governor.

Rep. Mark Essien (PDP-Akwa-Ibom) however, said that the matter was irrelevant and should not be entertained as there were more matters of national importance to be addressed.

In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the plenary said that the leadership of the House would look into the report.

He added that if found necessary, the matter would be referred to the Privilege and Ethics Committee for further investigation.

Some dissatisfied members indicated to speak to the issue but Kalu denied them the opportunity saying that matters of personal explanation were not opened to debate.