We received the rejoinder below purportedly written by a certain Nasir Musa who made some incendiary comments against our online news portal, ostensibly in a belated attempt to defend his paymaster, who apparently is the Deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. Among other things, Mr. Nasir Musa; a fifth columnist accused us of propagating “falsehood, half-truths and twisted facts to report Hon. Ihedioha’s activities in the House, especially in his capacity as presiding officer” claiming Huhuonline.com is “on a mischievous mission to blackmail the person and office of the deputy speaker.” We are rather surprise why he singled out Huhuonline.com to cast his vituperative and banal aspersions and vent his anger for reporting what other news mediums reported. We make good to state here that we stand by our reporting on Hon Ihedioha and have included an Editor’s note for the reader to judge.
Huhuonline’s Desperate Blackmail on Ihedioha -By Nasir Musa (aka Oke Oghene)
It has become necessary to alert the general public especially readers of internet blogs and online news websites to spirited attempts by huhuonline.com to blackmail Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, in pursuance of an ignoble and self-seeking agenda of its publisher, Emeke Asiwe. While it is not uncommon for media outlets to focus on certain personalities to gain attention and/or seek patronage, the antics of huhuonline.com has suggested that its publisher and sponsors are on a mischievous mission to blackmail the person and office of the deputy speaker.
This is clear because the blog has chosen to shop for falsehood, half-truths, and twisted facts to report Hon. Ihedioha’s activities in the House, especially in his capacity as presiding officer.
Within a spate of about three weeks, the deputy speaker has become the butt of huhuonline’s blackmail foray as three different false stories published on the site has tried to portray him as unpopular among his colleagues and as someone who is uncivil and imperceptive to the mood of the House in session. Stories of how reps ‘booed’ and ‘attacked’ Ihedioha and how he was involved in a ‘brawl’ all in a short period of time clearly suggest that the blog and its publisher are either on a blackmail mission or have been sponsored by opponents to tarnish the image of the deputy speaker. This will surely fail as anything built on falsehood is bound to fall like a pack of cards.
For the records, there has never been a ‘booing’ at any point in time since the life time of this seventh session of the House of Representatives, talkless of such unparliamentary action being targeted at the deputy speaker.
I say this as a close follower of affairs in the House for close to a decade now and as one who has access to the national assembly. Members can and do disagree on motions, bills, and reports on the floor of the House but the sanctity of the hallowed chambers has been spared any denigration in this current House as against what has been blatantly suggested by huhuonline.com.
On the issue of the botched presentation of the report of the constitution review public sessions, the deputy speaker was never attacked as the discredited news site reported. It is important to note that not even the mainstream traditional media (including print and electronic) reported any ‘booing’ or quoted any member of the House ‘attacking’ Hon. Ihedioha on account of the postponed report presentation. So where and how huhuonline and its publisher got the false information it publishes from remains a question for them to answer and vindicate themselves.
Some things are clear from the false reports published by the unprofessional blog which claims to be news site: One is the fact that the highly discredited blog is not known to have an accredited reporter in the national assembly whose duty would be to file correct (or near correct) account of what transpires at the House and who can be called upon to substantiate his/her story.
Two, is the unsavoury fact that the publisher has, in a failed bid to discredit someone and blackmail him into submission, exhibited high illiteracy and lack of even the most basic knowledge about parliamentary procedures.
For instance, in its latest report over the ITF bill, huhuonline claimed that the deputy speaker “unceremoniously moved a motion to adjourn the session.” Wonderful! A presiding officer who is piloting affairs in plenary can also at the same time move a motion for adjournment? This is incredibly ridiculous and it goes to show the stark illiteracy of the publisher of the blog. Another example: How is it possible for Mr. Ihedioha who is presiding from the dais to have risen from his seat, stepped down unto the floor, assaulted a member and then returned to the dais to ‘move a motion for adjournment?’ Haba huhuonline!!!!
Little wonder then that Mr. Asiwe and his blog is scantly regarded and taken seriously as a credible source of information. To simply publish untenable, infantile and laughable gibberish from his fertile imagination all in a desperate bid to disparage the high office and person of the deputy speaker is a clear indication of blackmail that no responsible individual should fall for.
Mr. Asiwe should either tell the world what he wants from the deputy speaker instead of spreading falsehood against him or he should desist from his wicked blackmail tactics. Discerning readers and followers of affairs in the national assembly have seen into his antics and are not to be swayed to believe his false tales by moonlight. Maybe he does not know that he has made the deputy speaker even more popular by his unwarranted blackmail. A word is enough for the wise. My suspicion however, is that this Mr. Asiwe is not only unwise but as a discredited blackmailer, he is one who is confined into the abyss of disrepute!
Musa writes from Garki, Abuja. He can be reached via nmusa2@ymail.com
Editor’s Note: A Moron Finds Work
Ordinarily, we would not join issues with fifth columnists but we feel compelled to respond to the barrage of churlish invectives which Mr. Musa has employed to misrepresent the focus of our reporting on the Deputy Speaker while ignoring the central nexus of the argument we were making: that the personal comportment of Hon Ihedioha is undignified and unbefitting of the office of Deputy House Speaker.
It is indeed perplexing and it stretches disbelief and this kind of self-serving argument would cause laughter were it not absurdly and hypocritically tragic. You just have to compare our reporting on the Deputy Speaker with other media outlets and then wonder how anyone out of a mental asylum can afford to employ such sophistry to rationalize the brazen unethical practices of Ihedioha which Mr. Musa is desperately trying to defend.
We have published four articles; three reports and a commentary on the recent antics of Hon Ihedioha whenever he has presided over the House. The three articles are: “Reps Boo Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha”; “Again, Reps Attack Ihedioha Over Doctored Constitution Review”; Brawl erupts in House over Industrial Training Bill and an editorial, “House of Reps and the Cement Glut”.
On the last report which provoked Mr. Musa’s anger (Brawl erupts in House over Industrial Training Bill); the incident was widely reported by the mainstream media and we make bold to cite The Guardian of Thursday February 14, 2013 report on the same incident on its front page under the headline: “Reps in rowdy session, accuse Deputy Speaker of dictatorship” and noted that: “A mild drama ensued on the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday as angry members protested against what they termed “a dictatorial “ruling by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over a session of the plenary. The subject of discord was the debate for second reading on a bill for an act to amend the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for the purpose of empowering the fund to design, set up and operate guidelines for training and certification nationwide at state, local council and ward levels and to establish area registries for maintaining up-to-date registers of certified artisans and technicians in all fields and in all parts of the federation.”
The other report Mr. Musa referenced was “Again, Reps Attack Ihedioha Over Doctored Constitution Review”. Compare this with the Vanguard report on February 10, 2013 on the same issue titled: “Nigeria: State Creation Row – Constitution Review May Be Dumped” in which the paper noted that: “… the Senate President, Senator David Mark, his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, were in support of state creation while the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, was not in a hurry for the exercise…Some lawmakers had accused the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his House of Representatives colleague, Emeka Ihedioha, of manipulating the outcome of the public sessions to favour state creation so that the South-East, to which they belong, would be favoured with one. Sunday Vanguard learnt that it was based on the suspicion of manipulation raised by northern lawmakers against the two top-ranking lawmakers from the South-East that Tambuwal foiled the public presentation of the report, which the duo had hoped to use and convince the leadership to go for state creation.”
On our editorial on the House of reps and Cement glut, here is what The Nation newspaper of January 24, 2013 report titled: “House defeats motion on cement import” noted: “There was an uproar in the House of Representatives yesterday as the members voted on a motion brought by a member, Hassan Saleh (PDP, Benue). Members were disenchanted with the refusal of the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, to rule in line with the votes on the motion, causing an uproar. While majority of the lawmakers shouted “Nay!” to the motion, the Deputy Speaker dithered and asked the sponsor to repeat the prayer just in case members did not hear it well in the first instance. This incited members, anger, resulting in an uproar. For about three minutes, no one could hear anything in the chamber due to the murmuring that engulfed the chamber.”
Based on the sampled reports by other media organs on the Deputy House Speaker, it would have been obvious to anyone not blinded by prejudice or self-interest that Huhuonline.com has no ulterior motives in reporting on the activities of Hon Ihedioha. Unless Mr. Musa wants the public to believe that there is a conspiracy by the media to blackmail Mr. Deputy Speaker, his accusation of blackmail and propagating falsehood levied against Huhuonline.com is baseless and entirely without merit. Hence we stand by our reporting.
Some stories are best told straight. Rather than waste precious time and effort to launder Ihedioha’s image in the face of a self-inflicted public relations disaster, Mr. Musa a.k.a Oke Oghene (the Media Aide to the Deputy Speaker) will do well to teach his boss good manners like, courtesy and respect for his office and colleagues. His descent into apparent irrationality is the calibration of his performance on the rostrum; which has put him on the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Mr. Musa’s attempt to vilify Huhuonline.com and its Publisher/Editor is cheap and amateurish; indeed, it amounts to a misguided witch-hunt which can only evoke fits of laughter because it will not stop Ihedioha’s public image from taking a beating if he continues on his path to self-destruction.
We hope by now, Mr. Musa would have come to the realization that Huhuonline.com just reported the facts; nothing more than the facts. We have no apologies to detractors. Neither do we pander to the whims of ego-boosting, self-aggrandizing buccaneers who play to the gallery of public opinion and bend with the wind. We stand up for principles and report facts, no matter whose ox is gored.
In conclusion, we would relish engaging Mr. Musa in an honest debate on Hon Ihedioha free of all his garrulous banter. But the illogical absurdities in his apposite rejoinder, acerbic as they may seem, points to a cantankerous mind, shallowly naïve and incapable of sound intellectual judgment. He comes across as someone without any personal convictions; just another “also ran” knee-jerk with a high nuisance value seeking to be noticed. His lack of civility is matched by a penchant for name-calling actuated by a primitive vendetta of self-abnegation and a certain blind, narrow-minded hate, borne of an unseemly partisan prejudice against Huhuonline.com and its Publisher/Editor.
Until Mr. Musa(aka Oke Oghene) grows out of this impertinent self-flagellation, he is not worth our time.
