… I was penciled down but I ran for dear life – Ucha
From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
It was drama at the Benue State House of Assembly, Makurdi, on Thursday, as thugs reportedly invaded the assembly complex and harassed some members.
Trouble started early hours of the day when it was learnt that the members would sit to pass into law, the executive pension bill proposed by Governor Samuel Ortom.
The bill was to pay past governors and their deputies pension for the rest of their lives.
It was alleged by the state All Progressives Congress, (APC), that the state Governor had promised to reward the members with the sum of N80 million if they pass the pension bill.
Not long after the news filtered in, thugs took over the assembly complex, harassing members who were perceived to be against the passing of the bill.
It was also gathered that cars of some members were vandalized.
A Member of the House of Assembly representing Tiev State Constituency, Vandeikya Local Government Area, Hon. Terkaa Ucha, confirmed the situation.
Ucha said “My vehicle was not vandalized but I was penciled down to be harassed so I got the information and ran for my dear life.”
He stated that the leadership of the House, however, took over the Bills that were referred to his committee to work on and passed them into law without his consent.
“Five bills were passed today and the Bills include the amendment of the Benue Polytechnic, Akperan Orshi Polytechnic, College of Education Katsina Ala, and College of Education Oju, to make way for the Governor to appoint a rector without the approval of the Governing Council.
“These bills were still under my care and I have never laid them on the floor of the House as in submission of the reports and so they went to my secretary, intimidated him and asked him to bring the bills without my consent.
“I have not signed it and neither did any of my members sign but they went ahead and passed it.
Asked of the Pension Bill, Ucha said the Pension Bill cannot be passed because the Governor is not pension friendly.
“He cannot pass that bill in Benue state. If he is pension friendly, we will know because my mother is a pensioner and my father died a pensioner.
“17 members were conscripted to come. I was not privy if they were given N8 million because I was not party to it. I cannot be party to mischief, ” he said.
Member representing Tarka State Constituency, Mr. Bem Ngutyor, however denied being coerced or conscripted to come to the sitting.
“Yes I was in attendance. I was not coerced into sitting. I was around on my own volition. We decided to pass the Bill because it has to do with our tertiary Institutions.
“So what we did was basically to amend laws that were already in place. We looked at two polytechnics and three colleges of education bills and then we worked on the bill on widows Commission. We were about 17 members out of 30,” he explained.
On his part, the Chairman of Information Committee, Hon. Tertsea Gbisea confirmed the incident saying “one of the members was harassed, his car was smashed.
“I think they were just thugs, political thugs. Up till now, we don’t know who sent them or what their mission was. The security agencies have been alerted hoping that an investigation will be be carried out so that we can know who they were, who sent them and what their mission was.”
Gbisea further explained that some reports were laid and one was debated while the sitting continue tomorrow.
“The controversial bill was not passed. Bills are not passed in one day. It has not been considered. It has to go to second reading and sent to the relevant Committee to work on it, brought back and deliberated upon. So it’s a long process,” he said.