Taraba Assembly Refutes N1.5bn Bribery Allegation Claim 

Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting

The Taraba State House of Assembly has refuted media reports that it took a N1.5bn bribe from the state governor, Agbu Kefas, to approve the request for a N350bn bond.

The spokesperson of the House, Mr Nelson Len, who shed light on the issue, said the allegation was not only far-fetched but also baseless and a mere distraction.

Len said the House approved the bond request after duly considering it and ascertaining that it was in the best interest of the state.

He added that the governor does not need to bribe the House for the members to perform the constitutional responsibilities that they were elected to perform.

According to Len, “The state governor has been very supportive of the House, and this is reflected in our ability to do things for our various constituents even when there is no provision for constituency project allowances for members.

“When people say that the House is a rubber-stamped Assembly, I laugh. We were not elected to come and oppose the Executive. Instead, we were elected to work collaboratively with the executive arm of government to provide dividends of democracy to the people.

“What you also need to understand is that, contrarily, approvals for loans do not necessarily translate to actually accessing the loans. In most cases, some conditions may not be met and that will affect the full disbursement of the facilities. So the general impression that the government has borrowed so much may be very wrong.”

Recalls that the House gave approval for the state governor to take a bond of N350bn last week, and some sections of society allege that the governor gave N1.5bn as a bribe to the House to secure their approval.