Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has denied having a disagreement with Senator Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo State.
This comes in response to reports that Abbas and Uzodimma were at odds over the choice of Ikenga Ugochinyere, a member from Ideato North/South Federal Constituency, as the chairman of a reportedly “juicy” House committee.
The Speaker refuted the reports that there was a problem with Uzodimma, who also serves as the chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, in a statement released on Wednesday by his media assistant Musa Abdullahi Krishi.
Abbas and Uzodimma are pillars of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The report, according to Abbas, is “fictitious” and “malicious,” and there is no divide between him and Uzodimma on the appointment of Ugochinyere to lead the committee, he claimed.
He advised the general public to ignore the story in light of this.
The statement reads, “It has come to the attention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D, that a newspaper report with the above headline has been in circulation.
“Ordinarily, the Speaker would not respond to such a fictitious and malicious story, but for the unsuspecting public, who may be hoodwinked by the content of the report that was only attributed to imaginary ‘sources.’
“The Speaker wishes to inform the public that at no time did the Imo State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodinma, contact him to rescind the appointment of Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere as the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).
“For the record, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen enjoys a cordial relationship with Governor Hope Uzodinma and nothing has happened to warrant any sour relationship between them.”