Senator Ifeanyi Uba, the lawmaker representing the people of Anambra South senatorial district has written to his colleague in the Senate, Senator Chukwuka Utazi of Enugu North district, rejecting his two letters of apology.
Recall that that a shouting match ensued on the floor of the Senate between the two lawmakers when senator Utazi accused his Anambra counterpart of kicking against the Senate purchasing official vehicles from Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing, a claim Sen. Uba vehemently denied and accused his Enugu counterpart of engaging in circulation of fake social media stories.
According to the copy of letter made available to Oceanicnews, Sen Uba expressed disappointment that a lawmaker of Sen. Utazi’s caliber could engage in propagating fake and unverified social media stories and urged him to apologise to his Anambra South people, Ndi Anambra, Enugu and Ndigbo in general.
See the letter below:
Most Distinguished Senator Chukwuka Utazi,
I write in response to your letters dated 14th of July 2020 and 16th July, 2020, wherein you tried to clarify the unfortunate and clueless comments you made during the plenary session of the 9th Senate on Tuesday, July 14,2020 over an unverified and fake social media story.
In your letters, you maintained that the Point of Order you raised on the Senate Floor was never directed at me but was made to protect the interests of Igbo businesses.
While I commend your acknowledgement of the importance of promoting the Igbo economy which is my core mantra and one of my utmost priorities in the National Assembly, it is unfortunate that you failed to mention the Senator who committed such an unpardonable act by opposing the procurement of vehicles made by Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Company Limited (a company situated in my constituency, Anambra South) during a Senate transport Committee Meeting which I am neither a member of, nor have I ever attended the said committee meeting.
Distinguished colleague, I find it most unfortunate and sad that till now, you are still unable to produce any evidence to prove that the alleged incident to demarket IVM occurred, or at least, apologize and inform Nigerians that you erred by bringing an unverified social media rumour to the floor of the Senate.
As a distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you should have contacted or consulted the leadership of the Senate Committee on Transport or any member of the committee which our highly respected brother and leader from Enugu; Senator (Dr) Chimaroke Nnamani is a member, to find out if such happened; rather you chose to discuss it on the floor of the Senate plenary based on hearsay. This is very appalling and disgraceful!
My dear colleague, how will you feel if I come before the Senate and allege that an Igbo Senator plotted to betray your constituent without being bold enough to name the said Senator?
How will you feel if I come to the floor of the Senate and discuss an unverified fake social media story that has your name attached to it without seeking clarification before raising it at the Senate plenary? It is true you did not mention my name while raising the Point of Order
But I had to respond to you because an obviously sponsored hatchet writer had in the previous days prior to the Tuesday plenary session used a fictitious-pseudo name to trend a fallacious story that I allegedly kicked against the purchase of Innoson vehicles in a transport Senate Committee meeting.
You can imagine the embarrassment that I felt on witnessing your presentation on the floor of the Senate, hence my demand that you mention the name of the perpetrator if indeed such a thing truly occurred before the intervention of our highly respected colleagues who intervened on your behalf and had to abandon plenary and escort me back to my office where they all expressed surprise at your action.
I do not believe that a Distinguished Colleague like you should be used to play petty/gutter politics. I find your action very distasteful and demand that you tender a clear, proper and unreserved apology to my constituents, Ndi Anambra, your home State, the Senate, Ndi Igbo whom I hold so dearly and Nigerians in general for bringing an unverified and fictitious fake social media report to the floor of the Nigerian Senate which by extension, has defamed my reputation and also reduced your office to a tool for petty/gutter politics and fake social media propaganda.
It is also disheartening to think that a renowned anti fake social media advocate of your caliber and person can condescend to purveying the same fake media news you have always kicked against.
However, I am highly consoled by the intervention of our respected colleagues Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, Senator T.A Orji and Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe to forgive you if you tender an unreserved apology which you have failed to adhere to in your past two(2) letters, hence my reply.
Conclusively, it is imperative to note that Ifeanyi Ubah as a name and brand took a lot of hard work and doggedness to be establish over the years and should not be dragged into fake media propaganda.
On this premise, I wish to advise you not to dabble and engage yourself in dirty politics, senseless propaganda and fake media reports while I urge you to do the needful and apologize properly.
Please accept the assurances of my highest regards.
Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Ubah
Anambra South Senatorial District