The House of
Representatives was on Tuesday thrown into a frenzy as federal lawmakers
managed to avert a brawl between the Majority Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola
(PDP, Oyo), and Hon. Irona Alphonsus Gerald (PDP, Imo).
Gerald,
otherwise quiet and reserved, lost his cool as he menacingly walked towards
Adeola-Akande, who was seated in the front row and engaged her in a verbal
exchange all the while pointing an accusing finger at her.
Gerald
spurned his colleague when he threatened to embarrass the House Leader if she
did not desist from “defrauding” the lawmakers.
“I don't
like it. This is not the first time you have done that to me. Stop it or I will
embarrass you,” he said threateningly.
The
confrontation prompted the Deputy Leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP,
Delta), who is traditionally seated beside Adeola-Akande to leave his seat,
grab and push Gerald away from his boss.
All the
while, the leader remained glued to her seat too petrified to respond to the
verbal attack from Gerald.
At this
juncture, other members quickly rose and took Gerald to his seat to prevent the
situation from snowballing.
The bone of
contention, it was gathered, may not be unconnected with the allegation that
the presidency had offered money to aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
lawmakers to persuade those who had lost out at the primaries to remain in the
party.
President
Goodluck Jonathan was said to have met selectively with the PDP caucus in the
House last Sunday following the gale of defections by PDP lawmakers to the
opposition parties.
Gerald,
however, later declined to respond to inquiries on the matter, suggesting that
the House Leader was best suited to comment.
When
contacted, Hon. Adeola-Akande told newsmen that the issue had nothing to do
with money arising from their meeting with the president.
Explaining
that Gerald misunderstood what the meeting was all about, she said: “It was a
simple matter of non-receipt of SMS for the caucus meeting. He complained to me
earlier and I asked him to bring his phone number, which I left with my aide
who handles such matters.
“And even
when I did not get the SMS that he sent out and I had to call his attention
again to this, and he (her aide) said it was a network problem. I asked him to
re-send the messages because members were calling me to say they had heard
about the meeting but did not get any notification.
“So
it wasn’t only him (Gerald) who did not get the SMS
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