Arrest of representative pits Dogara against Bauchi CP
Two members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Iyiola Omisore and Dr. Salihu Lukman, continued to exchange words on the alleged misuse of presidential campaign funds intended for Osun State.

Yesterday, Omisore, the party’s national secretary, threatened to sue Lukman for defamation for tarnishing his reputation in the public eye.

Lukman, the National Vice President (North West), on Tuesday in an interview with African Independent Television (AIT), justified his call for Omisore’s removal on the grounds that funds earmarked for general election campaigns were mishandled by Omisore.

In the interview, he alleged, “I know that the party released campaign funds for Osun, which were managed by the national secretary. To some degree he mishandled it, but more importantly he doesn’t answer to anyone. You need to activate the accountability process.

But Omisore, in a letter to Lukman, through his lawyers, Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), argued that Lukman’s claim “is not only false, misleading and without any factual basis, but malicious to all respects”.
He demanded a retraction, apology and payment of damages for the defamatory statement made against him.

The Osun-born politician argued that Lukman’s claim was a deliberate attempt sponsored and/or engineered to denigrate his image and political stature as a brand leader in Osun, the South West and the country as a whole .

Omisore pointed out that he had not received any money to pursue Osun’s gubernatorial election, nor had he mismanaged the non-existent campaign funds.

He demanded a retraction of what he said was a defamatory statement and publication as well as an apology to be published in two major newspapers and several online news outlets within 48 hours of delivering the letter. He also demanded the payment of 500 million naira as damages for the “malicious” statement.

In case Lukman did not comply, Omisore threatened to go to court for justice.

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara has accused Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed of colluding with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to ‘crack down’ on APC members .

Dogara made the accusation yesterday while addressing reporters at the residence of APC gubernatorial candidate Sadique Abubakar in Bauchi. He was reacting to the declaration by the police of a member of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Abdullahi, wanted.

Police on Tuesday said the lawmaker representing the federal constituency of Bauchi was wanted on charges of “criminal association, causing serious bodily harm, disturbing public order and culpable homicide.”

But Dogara said police were wrong to say the federal lawmaker was wanted, adding that the proper channels were snubbed.

His words: “I was Speaker of the House of Representatives, I know the process of inviting an MP, who is charged with a misdemeanor and these are just allegations. No one is alleging they saw him with guns he shot, no. They say he imported people.

“So for a member of the House of Representatives to be invited by the police, they know the law; the Chambers, Powers, Privileges and Immunities of the Legislative Assembly Act is there. They know how to invite him and must not break the law.

According to him, for an MP to appear before an authority, a letter must be written to the Clerk and this letter must be forwarded to the President to be approved for his appearance. “I was a president and I saw so many of these letters and processed them. This was not done by the police in this case.