Reps Minority Leadership Battle Deepens As Ozodinobi Tackles Ugochinyere

The battle for the Minority Leader position in the House of Representatives has taken a fresh turn as acting Minority Leader, George Ozodinobi, dismissed the reported bid by Ikenga Ugochinyere for the office.

Naija News understands that Ozodinobi described the move as “a joke taken too far.”

The controversy followed reports that 61 opposition lawmakers had endorsed Ugochinyere to replace former Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda.

Chinda formally resigned during plenary last week after securing the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.

His exit created a vacancy in the minority leadership structure and opened a contest among opposition lawmakers.

Before the resignation, Ozodinobi, a member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, had been acting in the position.

Speaking with The PUNCH in Abuja, Ozodinobi argued that parliamentary tradition does not support a first-term lawmaker seeking a principal office in the House.

“We have a tradition in our House Rules that a first timer cannot constitute a nuisance to the extent of aspiring for a principal office of the House. This is a joke taken too far,” he said.

He, however, said he was not desperate to succeed Chinda.

“For me, I am not overly ambitious,” he added.

The dispute deepened after Deputy Spokesman of the House, Philip Agbese, disowned the use of his signature in support of Ugochinyere’s nomination.

Agbese said his signature was used without authorisation for a purpose different from what he agreed to.

He explained that he signed a document relating to equitable sharing of principal offices among minority parties, not a nomination form for Ugochinyere.

“At no time was I informed, nor did I consent, that the said document would be converted into or used as a nomination form for Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere as Minority Leader,” he said.

Agbese described the alleged conversion of the document as a breach of trust.

“The subsequent use of my signature to support a nomination I neither approved nor endorsed constitutes a gross misrepresentation and a clear case of forgery,” he stated.

He challenged anyone with such a document to submit it for forensic analysis.