By Austin Ogwuda
FRESH facts have emerged as to why the Member representing Ughelli North 1 Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Matthew Omonade was suspended during Tuesday’s plenary.
Contrary to the reason adduced by the House, citing “gross misconduct”, investigation has revealed that it should be the suspended member who should be angry with the House, rather than the other way round based on his (Omonade) claim that his bill was plagiarised, investigation has revealed.
The suspended lawmaker is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions.
According to an investigation carried out by SaharaReporters the suspended Lawmaker “was punished over a Bill he had sponsored but was not listed by the Speaker and later presented as an Executive Bill without his consent which he viewed as intellectual theft”.
Competent and reliable inside sources who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that the APC lawmaker was suspended following his protest against the Speaker and the House for ‘stealing his Bill’ and changing it to an Executive Bill without acknowledgement.
The source said, “Barrister Matthew Omonade sponsored a Bill about the generation and distribution of electricity in Delta State and obliged the Speaker a copy for listing on the order paper which the Speaker failed to do. All of a sudden, that same bill came to the floor of the House as an Executive Bill without his name on it and he protested against it. This was why he was suspended but the House will not open up rather the House said he was suspended for gross misconduct”.
Another source was quoted saying, “Omonade prepared a Bill on the generation and distribution of electricity in Delta State and forwarded a copy to the Speaker, Emomotimi Guwor, to be listed for reading last December but the Speaker refused to enlist the bill.
“And surprisingly, the Bill came to the floor of the House as an executive bill and copied word for word with all the mistakes duplicated in it.
“The young man had to protest that the bill he gave to the Speaker which he refused to list could not be turned into an Executive Bill without giving him the credit he deserved. He then moved that the bill be withdrawn.
“But rather than acknowledge the young man, his action was seen as a slap on the face of the Speaker and the House so he was suspended for 14 days with the constitution of a five-man panel to look into the matter.
“It’s a simple matter that would have been resolved amicably but because of pride, the Speaker refused to do the needful and preferred suspension”, the source hinted.
Asked by the Townhall to either confirm or deny the latest development about the suspension, the Chief Press Secretary CPS to the Speaker, Comrade Nkem Nwaeke responded thus:
“An adhoc committee has been set up to investigate the matter. It will be prejudice to comment on it. The committee was given one week to submit its report. So just exercise patience till next week”.
Credit: Sahara Reporters