ti-Bankole Reps locked out of
hall
By Festus Owete
June 17, 2010 12:25AM
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There was drama yesterday as
reporters covering the House of
Representatives were locked out of
the press centre where the 10
lawmakers, who have been waging
a virulent campaign against the
Speaker, had wanted to make
public their next line of action with
the expiration of the seven day
ultimatum given Mr Bankole to
resign.
The press centre, Room 019,
located in the House New Wing, is
one of the two used by House
correspondents. It is bigger than
the other one in the main building,
generally called “White House”. The
lawmakers had used the venue to
address the same reporters on
Wednesday last week. They had
also scheduled another conference
at the venue yesterday.
However, the reporters were
shocked when they got to the
venue and discovered that the two
keys to the hall had been changed
and they could therefore not go in.
The visibly angry reporters
discovered, on inquires from some
of the technical staff, that the keys
were changed last week. They
complained bitterly and demanded
to know why the change was
made without their knowledge.
Some of the reporters accused the
leadership of the House, headed by
the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole of
being responsible for the ugly
development. According to them,
the leadership took the decision to
change the keys to prevent the
progressive members from using
the hall to continue with their
campaign.
However, a few others defended
the House leadership, saying it was
possible the principal officers were
not informed about the plan to
change the keys. Idowu Bakare,
the chief press secretary to Mr
Bankole, who had also come to
witnessed the briefing also put up a
strong defence of his boss, who is
currently on an official assignment
to Russia, insisting that they did not
know anything about the change
of the keys. It was amid this
confusion that Mr Melaye and some
members of his group, known as
Progressive Members, arrived
carrying files and bags containing
documents detailing the corruption
allegations against Mr Bankole and
the House leadership.
Expectedly, Mr. Melaye and Mr.
West-Idahosa made an issue out of
it, saying it was a deliberate design
by Mr Bankole to deny journalists
the use of the centre, which they
said is not the property of the
Speaker neither is it that of the
principal officers. Mr West-Idahosa,
a member from Edo State,
attributed the development to Mr
Bankole “tyrannical” leadership,
which he claimed has been visited
on members in the last two and
half years.
After the lawmakers’ departure,
the reporters still waited outside
the centre in anticipation that the
House spokesperson, Eseme
Eyiboh, who had already sent
emissaries that he was on his way
to react to the allegations against
the Speaker and the leadership,
would open it and explain why the
keys were changed.
Blame the security
They were, however, disappointed
when somebody brought a
message from Mr Eyiboh that they
should move to Room 426, Media
and Public Affairs Committee hall,
for the briefing. While some refused
to go, other grudgingly went only
to discover that he (Eyiboh) had
not arrived the hall.
At this point, the aggrieved
lawmakers also called journalists to
Mr Ahwinahwi’s office on the first
floor to take the photographs of all
the items the House leadership
bought, which they said members
of the House did not need.
According to them, the prices of the
items which include torchlight,
handsets, television sets, car seat
cover, coffee mixers, fan and
others were inflated.
Just as that was being concluded,
the House spokesperson sent
another messenger asking the
reporters to move to Committee
Room 1 of the White House where
he would address the journalists. By
this time, the reporters were
already grumbling and alleging that
the delay in Mr Eyiboh’s arrival was
a grand design to stop them from
reporting the allegations made by
the progressive members. Some of
the reporters were, however, heard
saying that “even if it is 10 pm, we
will still file our reports.” When Mr
Eyiboh finally appeared, about one
hour after the entire confusion
began, he apologized profusely to
the reporters, saying the change of
the key to their press centre was
not deliberate and neither was it
aimed at embarrassing them. He
explained that the Serjeant-at-
Arms did not anticipate that
journalists would be working while
the House was on break.
“I take responsibility for that action
and apologise to you people and
those who wanted to speak to
you,” Mr Eyiboh, who was flanked
by Mr Bakare and Phil Nyam, the
press corps chairman, added.
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