Abia Assembly Denies N.1m Scandal

The Abia House of Assembly says it is not correct that members demanded N100, 000 from the 762 traditional rulers in the state for the verification of autonomous communities.

The Deputy Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Mr Alwell Okere, made the clarification in Umuahia while briefing newsmen on the activities of the assembly in the last two months.

The traditional rulers last week visited Gov Theodore Orji and complained that Abia lawmakers had demanded N100, 000 from them for the re-verification of autonomous communities.

But Okere said that the lawmakers were carrying out their statutory duty of re-verifying the status of each of the communities in consideration of a bill at the assembly.

He said that there was a breakdown in communication between the traditional rulers and the assembly, noting that the position of the house was not properly explained..

“There was a mix-up. When the information reached Mr Speaker that traditional rulers were asked to pay N100, 000, the speaker met with all the members to state that the house should fund such an exercise. That was it.

“Mr Speaker then printed forms and asked people to come and pick free of charge, fill and return and the people should better discard such information because such thing never happened in the course of re-verification,’’ he said.

Okere also said that the assembly had passed the 2013 budget of N137.17 billion while a bill for a law of the establishment of Abia State Luxury and Articulated Vehicle Park had passed the first reading.

He said that the house had passed a number of resolutions within the last two months for the good governance of Abia.

“These included the resolution for the confirmation of appointment of local government transition committee chairmen and deputies, as well as the resolution on the malicious publication in the Sun Newspaper against members of Abia State House of assembly.

“Others are the resolution on the unhealthy situation in Abia State-owned newspaper and publishing company, the resolution on the alleged mal-administration of sports, Abia State Sports Council and the resolution on the state of child adoption in Abia,’’ he said.

Okere said that lawmakers condemned the media publication credited to a former governor of the state because the lawmakers were comfortable with the treatment they were getting from the present administration.

“There was never a time the house complained to anybody that it was not getting enough from the present government,’’ he said.

Okere added that no one told the former governor that the house was being short- changed in any way.

He said the resolution on the state of child adoption followed a matter of urgent public interest raised by one of the lawmakers to the effect that some unscrupulous elements were into illegal adoption of children and making money from the process.

Okere stressed the need for the security agencies to tackle the trend and advised parents to be vigilant about the whereabouts of their children.

“Parents should not leave their children to wander about in the streets and road to prevent them from being abducted by the evil women engaging in human tarfficking,’’ he said.