By Matthew Tabe
The 9th House of Representatives spokesperson, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has accused the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of not presenting the authentic document regarding the agreement they reached with House Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
He made the disclosure exclusively while responding to the query presented to him by the Quest Times on Friday.
He said “I am not seeing the signature of both parties to this resolution or is it an error of the sight?
“To be a reference document it needs to show both signatories first. If you have that please present it so we can proceed to discuss the paragraphs and then purposive interpretation of the paragraphs.”
He added that “so publish the authentic letter for us to discuss, you were not supposed to publish a letter signed only by one party to which the other party did not sign but lay claims to.”
When our correspondent contacted the Special Assistant on Print Media to the Speaker, Mr. Dele Anofi, he emphasized that he’s not the spokesperson of the House of Representatives.
He said: “Let me make it clear to you that I am neither the spokesman of the Speaker nor the House of Reps spokesman. However, let me refer you to the official position of the House on the issue as addressed in a statement by the House Spokesman, Rep. Kalu.
“I assure you, the statement will adequately answer whatever questions. If you are still not satisfied, kindly get in touch with the House Spokesman, the issue is a House matter, not Speaker’s. I am SA on Print Media to the Speaker, not the House.”
Several calls and text messages put across to the Chief of Staff to the Speaker, Mr. Olarewaju Smart, on the issue, were neither picked nor responded to before this report was filed.
Recall that Quest Times had yesterday published the document containing the signature of the Speaker of the House of Representatives released by the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Victor Osodeke, on offsetting the arrears of salaries owed members of ASUU.
The document, dated October 12, 2022, contained the agreement reached between the House of Representatives and the leadership of ASUU that made the union to call off the industrial action which lasted for eight months.