Ikenga Ugochinyere (PDP-Imo) has moved a motion for the House of Representatives to commit to prison Yusuf Gagdi (APC-Plateau) for contempt of parliament and misleading the House through falsehood.
Mr Ugochinyere moved the motion while raising a matter of privilege, which falls under Order 6, Rule 125, and Section 12 of the Legislative House Order of Privileges Act, at the plenary in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mr Gagdi, while moving a motion of personal explanation at the plenary on June 6, told the parliament that his privilege had been breached.
Mr Gagdi said that some media publications reported that about 50 members of the parliament paid a solidarity visit to Governor Siminalayi Fubara during their visit to Rivers, as contained in a statement issued by Mr Ugochinyere.
Mr Gagdi said such a statement was in bad taste and made the parliament 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 an oversight function and decided to greet the governor.
Mr Ugochinyere, while presenting his motion, however, said, “We did not go to any oversight function, not to talk of politicising oversight functions. A group of like-minded lawmakers, on our own, not on behalf of the House, went on a Thanksgiving service in Port Harcourt to celebrate Governor Fubara’s one year of transformational leadership,” he said.
He explained that this was published in all the newspapers, including the one earlier cited by Mr Gagdi.
According to him, Mr Gagdi misinformed the parliament when he said, “We went on an oversight function, thereby committing contempt of parliament and misleading it.”
He added, “About 40 of us who went to Port Harcourt specifically mobilised ourselves and went for the sole purpose of celebrating with Mr Fubara and not politicising.”
He said Mr Gagdi’s comment belittled the status of the 40 lawmakers, saying, “and we are asking that this privilege that has been abused should be addressed.”
According to him, this should be in accordance with the provisions of Order 6, Rules 1 and 2, and Section 12 of the Legislative Privileges.
The order states that “any person who presents to a legislative House any false, untrue, fabricated, falsified document with the intent to deceive shall be guilty of an offence.”
It further says, “The person shall be liable to conviction to imprisonment for 12 months and also be removed as a member of a legislative house.”
Speaking on the matter, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, said the motion had been noted.
He added that the House leadership would intervene on the issue, and the parties to the matter and other affected members would be invited to discuss it.
Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the plenary on June 6, also 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.
(NAN)
