Today, Thursday 17, Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior, and the Nigeria Correctional Service, NCS issues came up on the floors of the House of Representatives, who expressed displeasure over a trend of deliberate misrepresentation of motions and resolutions raised on the floor by a section of the media.
Probing the medium, the Reps condemned their deliberate misinterpretation of motions and resolutions regarding matters raised that concern NCS, stating that the interior minister was never a target, as attributed to the House by some media outlets.
They said it was high time the “unfortunate development”, intended to distract the House from addressing pressing national matters, was put to a halt.
A case in hand was the resolution the Representatives passed on Wednesday mandating its Committee on Reformatory Institutions to investigate the appalling working conditions, lack of facilities and the poor welfare of the personnel and inmates situated in the correctional facility.
The House had said services at most correctional centres had not improved despite the over N165billion budgetary allocations made to the NCS in the last 2years.
Honourable Ndudi Elumelu, a Minority Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, moved the motion to address the condition of inmates.
However, a section of the media misrepresented the resolution of the House by claiming that it was a political fight initiated by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila and targeted at aregbesola, a known protege of former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
It was a PDP member, Rep Luke Onofiok, that came under the point of privilege to express displeasure and disbelief over the action of a section of the media.
Onofiok reportedly insisted that the motion had nothing to do with the Speaker as a person but normal parliamentary decision seeking to investigate they utilised funds budgeted for Federal Government agencies.