Resolved to institute legal action

The members of the House of Representatives have reacted to the grave allegation of $10million bribe purportedly given to them by Bill Gate in order to the pass the Infectious Disease bill into law

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) had, on Monday, alleged that the Microsoft founder paid the members of the House to give the bill swift and seamless passage.

Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere the Spokesperson of CUPP had alleged that the intelligence was coupled with the information of the alleged receipt “from sources outside the country but very interested in the Bill, of the sum of $10 million by the sponsors and promoters of the Bill to distribute among lawmakers to ensure a smooth passage of the Bill,”

Speaking on the allegation, during plenary session on Tuesday, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila said that responding to the Allegation would amount to dignifying the merchant of fake news.

He noted that the allegation would further vindicate and give validation to those who felt the social media should be regulated.

He noted that the reason some of the fake news purveyors still thrived was because the house did not have the luxury of litigation, if not some would have met their Waterloo if the legal action road was taken.

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He said “Sometimes, in life and politics, some things are best ignored, when you address certain things, you elevate and give credibility to those purveyors of the News. Be that as it may, as ridiculous as the allegation may sound, it is also worth maybe taking investigation as stated by the Deputy Speaker.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the culture of litigations, otherwise so many of these things would have been abated if rapid and quick resort to the judiciary was adopted, but for so many reasons, that is not done”

He averred that those opposed to regulation of social media were the ones hiding behind the digital veneer to bring the house into disrepute, but they ended up making themselves an object of scorn.

“Maybe an example should be set. For me, all they have done is to give credence to those people who said that Social Media should be regulated, that’s all they have done. Those People saying you cannot regulate social media, you cannot regulate fake news, are the same people engaging in these activities, they are hurting themselves, in a bid to hurt the leadership and the House., they ended up shooting themselves in the leg.

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For his part, the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase raised a point of order and called for an investigation into the allegation.

“I will like to state that a dime has not come to me, in the interest of Nigeria and the collective interest of our country, and for anyone to make this malicious statement, that person has impugned on my integrity, and I think it should not go like that. We want to plead again that the house should set-up a committee to investigate this allegation, and take necessary allegations.”

Both the Majority Leader, Hassan Ado Dogwa and Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu also denied the allegation and called for legal action.