THE Kawu Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has withdrawn its earlier allegations and condemnation of purported withdrawal of diplomatic passports of leaders and members of the National Assembly, admitting that there is no truth in the said report.
The faction had, in a statement
by its publicity secretary, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, expressed worries about what
it called “the dire implications of the reported directive by the presidency
for the withdrawal of the diplomatic passports of the Senate president, David
Mark, speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal and
other members of the National Assembly.
But in a sudden volte face, the
faction, in a counter statement, withdrew the allegations.
“Following the new revelations
from both the presidency and the National Assembly, through our national
chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, that there is no iota of truth in the
report that the presidency has directed the withdrawal of the diplomatic
passports of the leadership and members of the National Assembly, as reported
in most of the national dailies today (Sunday), we hereby withdraw the release
on this subject matter, pending further investigation of the facts.
“Though our release was an
attempt to alert the president to the implication if such an unholy move was
found to be true, but now that it has been confirmed that there is no such a
move, we thank God, as that would have been an unwise policy that will work
against the presidency of Dr Jonathan,” the withdrawal statement noted.
The faction, however, stood by
its earlier disclosure that “Senator Joy Emordi was sacked as Special
Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters because of her candid
advice that inducing members of the National Assembly financially to impeach
their principal officers would be counter-productive. If this is true, we
hereby demand her immediate reinstatement.”
The statement observed that
“Senator Emordi, to be bold enough to tell the president the implication of
such a corrupt inducement of the lawmakers, should earn commendation rather
than a sack,” advising that “instead of sacking such a forthright and patriotic
amazon, the president should sack those hawks around him planning to ridicule
him by encouraging him to embark on acts capable of making him very unpopular
among his supporters and followers.
On the alleged stoppage of work
at the Port Harcourt airport, the Baraje faction demanded the immediate sack of
the Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria
Immigration Service (NIS), has denied reports in some sections of the media
that it has been ordered to withdraw all diplomatic passports of National
Assembly members, including that of Senate president and speaker of the House
of Representatives.
Spokesman of the service, Mr
Obua Chukwuemeka, told the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, on Sunday, through
telephone that the service had never received any such directive from the
presidency or any other source.
He said he was surprised to
read the report on two national dailies (Nigerian Tribune inclusive),
suggesting that the presidency sought the advice of the Comptroller-General of
immigration on the issue.
Chukwuemeka said to the best of
his knowledge, there was no such order to withdraw the diplomatic passports of
the lawmakers, adding that NIS had never directed any of its officials to
enforce any such order.
“I think this is pure mischief
and an attempt by some persons to cause strain relationship between the
Comptroller-General of Immigration and the National Assembly.
“How can it be possible for the
presidency to bypass the Foreign Affairs ministry, even the Ministry of
Interior and other relevant agencies to direct Immigration Service to carry out
such an order?” he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment