By Suleiman Anyalewechi
The House of Representatives plenary on Thursday was marked by serious disagreement and tension which arose from the planned selection of a Minority Leader to replace Hon Kingsley Chinda who resigned from the.position on Tuesday following his defection from the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.
The session which could have led to the emergence of Hon Ikenga Ugochinyere after his endorsement on Wednesday by about 61 of the 81 opposition Lawmakers was, however, thrown into heated disagreement following allegation by Hon Philip Agbese ,the House Deputy spokesperson, that his signature was forged.
The Source reports that a document in circulation on Wednesday night had indicated that Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato Federal Constituency of Imo state had been endorsed by his colleagues for the Minority Leadership of the green chamber of the National Assembly.
But while raising a matter of privilege on Tuesday, Agbese, representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue state, denied appending his signature to the Ugochinyere project.
According to him, he only became aware of the document claiming the endorsement of the Imo state-born legislator when it surfaced on online and the social media space.
He noted that he was surprised and embarrassed to be listed as one of the signatories to the endorsement of Hon Ugochinyere as the new Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
While acknowledging engaging in discussions with some colleagues including Ugochinyere on some issues bordering on Minority members of the House and constituency projects, he however denied endorsing any candidate for the vacant position.
He maintained that he has not met with Ugochinyere since December 2025, and, therefore, never appended his signature to an endorsement document.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), at about 6 pm, my attention was drawn to a document on the internet with my name, purportedly nominating a member of this House for the position of Minority Leader.
“I feel that my legislative privilege has been breached because this amounts to forgery for my signature to be used for purposes which were not intended”, Agbese cried out.
While imploring the House to carry out an inquest into the circumstances surrounding his signature appearing in the endorsement document, Agbese also vehemently distanced himself from the claim suggesting that opposition law makers were feted with about $50,000 each for the purpose of endorsing Ugochinyere
According to him, the social media space has been awash with reports that each of the 61 Lawmakers whose signatures appeared in the document, received the mouth-watering sum as a reward.
“I have not received any amount of money from anybody, and I will not do so . This is my integrity”, he added.
Responding to the development which expectedly triggered heavy uproar and confusion, Hon Ugochinyere vehemently debunked the allegations, insisting that Agbese personally visited his office and signed the endorsement register.
” My colleague, Agbese, has made some weighty allegations before every member here and today on live transmission.
” My brother arrived from Benue, met me in the office in the presence of some of my colleagues, and voluntarily pledged and signed my nomination.for the post of Minority Leader.
“I understand that at the moment, an overwhelming majority of 61 members out of 81 opposition members selected me.
” It may not go down well with some people, but I never expected that their desperation would get to this level”, Ugochinyere stated .
He regretted that his colleague and brother could make such weighty allegations which are not only false ,but defamatory .
He emphasized that some colleagues who were present when Agbese personally signed the nomination form,are ready to testify at the appropriate time.
However, in an attempt to douse tension, the Speaker of the House, Rt Honourable Tajudeen Abbas, announced a closed-door meeting with all minority members for the purpose of resolving any issues involved.
