A coalition of Arewa groups led by the Northern Stakeholders Consultative Forum, NSCF, has raised an alarm over alleged plots by House of Representatives member representing Ideato North/South federal constituency of Imo State, Ikenga Ugochinyere, to hire mercenaries to blackmail Speaker Abbas Tajudeen and his deputy, Benjamin Kalu.
The NSCF, along with 72 other civil society organizations,CSOs, said the sinister plots stemmed from the lawmaker’s removal as chairman of the Ad-hoc Joint Downstream and Midstream Committee to investigate the importation of adulterated petroleum products, the non-availability of crude oil for domestic refineries, and other energy security issues.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the House had dissolved the committee, following alleged hijacking of its activities, including singlehandedly signing documents that ought to have been jointly signed by both chairmen.
The House subsequently set up a fresh committee to handle the probe.
Speaking at a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday, the convener of the NSCF, Yerima Shettima, alleged that in his bid to force his way back into the new committee, Mr Ugochinyere hired private investigators to gather damaging information against the speaker and his deputy to blackmail them.
He said: “In recent weeks, Nigeria has been enveloped in significant turmoil, particularly within the energy sector. This tumultuous climate, exacerbated by the ongoing tensions between the Dangote Refinery and regulatory bodies, compels us to reflect on the implications of the actions — or inactions—of our lawmakers In light of our commitment to promoting transparency, we have undertaken an investigative approach regarding the recent crisis surrounding the joint committee tasked with overseeing the oil industry.
“Our ongoing investigations have unearthed deeply troubling patterns of behavior. As recently as July 4, 2024, unusual activities were reported around the House of Representatives premises.
“Subsequent enquiries revealed that private investigators had been engaged by Mr. Ugochinyere, purportedly to gather information for the purpose of blackmail against the speaker of the House, Hon. Tajudeen Abass, as well as the deputy speaker, Hon. Kalu Benjamin.
“These actions appear to be aimed at assembling compromising evidence to intimidate them into allowing his continued leadership of the Committee on Petroleum [downstream].
“In our quest for truth, we earnestly call upon the leadership of the House of Representatives to procure and review the CCTV footage from the house complex on the mentioned date. We are confident that these recordings will validate the claims, revealing various meetings held between Hon. Ugochinyere and the private investigators within his office premises.
“Alarmingly, it seems Mr. Ugochinyere sought to obscure his conversations by augmenting the volume of a television, mistakenly believing it would mask their dialogues from surveillance devices.
“However, we assert that these security measures successfully captured their exchanges, laying bare the malicious intent behind their actions.”
The groups further claimed that, “Mr Ugochinyere harbours aspirations to cultivate deleterious information about Deputy Speaker Kalu, whom he views as a potential rival”.
“This rivalry appears to stem from the perception that Deputy Speaker Kalu operates as a facilitator for funds from the Dangote Refinery. Such dynamics illustrate a troubling environment, where personal ambitions overshadow civic duty.”
Mr Shettima, therefore, urged the speaker to launch a comprehensive probe into the allegations in the interest of restoring public confidence and institutional integrity.
When contacted for comments, Mr Ugochinyere didn’t respond to our correspondent’s message sent to his phone number at the time of filing this report.
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