Gbajabiamila Denies Probing Rauf Aregbesola Over Rift With Tinubu

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila has insisted that the probe of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has nothing to do with the minister’s rift with leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu.

He was reacting to a matter of privilege raised by a representative Onofiok Luke who was furious with reports suggesting that the House’s resolution to investigate the state of the Nigerian Correctional Service was a political move by the Speaker against the interior minister.

The House had on Wednesday mandated its Committee on Reformation Services to investigate the state of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

The development followed a motion of urgent national importance by the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, which is contrary to some media reports that suggested the motion to investigate the funds allocated to Nigerian prisons was motivated by the rift between the former governor of Lagos and the interior minister.

In a statement on Thursday, Gbajabiamila said the decision to probe Aregbesola was not politically motivated.

The speaker said, “It’s unfortunate that this was misrepresented to mean a political fight initiated by the speaker against the minister of interior.

“We all read the unfortunate slant that was given to the well-thought-out motion by the minority leader.

“It’s the privilege of the entire House that was breached; it is aimed at distracting us.

“These are things that we ordinarily should ignore. More of it will still come, especially as we move toward the 2023 elections.”

Gbajabiamila added that he took consolidation in the fact that Nigerians were wiser now and could separate the truth from the inuendo dished out to the public by some media outlets.