Recall yesterday VPN promised to interview the speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly on allegations made by one Luka Danboyi with regards unsubstantiated claims bordering corruption, anti-party activities etc.

Today Wednesday 20th May 2020, ViewPointNigeria’s reporters Comrade Longgul Dakwom, Mr Longji Reuben, Mr Yaki Musa and others met the speaker at 8:00am at his official residence (with a number of his aides).

And even though the speaker declined to grant a full interview —saying it would be foolhardy to respond to a faceless individual who hides behind a fake account to spew out mischief and nonsense, he parleyed extensively with ViewPointNigeria.

Speaking in an informal setting, the speaker challenged the faceless individual to come forward with the allegations he claims to have. He said, “it is childish and mischievous to make up such baseless allegations without furnishing an iota of proof”. He said, “anti-graft agencies (EFCC, ICPC etc) exist for lodging such petitions, Facebook is not the place for such. The mere fact that this fellow has chosen to take this to Facebook and not EFCC shows that he is not to be taken seriously.

He pleaded with the general public not to be distracted by the pettiness of the allegations but to remain focused on the important issues of governance, security and keeping safe in these perilous COVID-19 times.

When our reporters pressed him about whether he knows about the car purchases in question, the speaker retorted sharply that legislators do not get involved in purchases, as that is a duty of the executive. He said “the autonomy to make such purchases has yet to be granted in our system” so this allegation is at best spurious”.

Speaking further on Luka Danboyi, the speaker said “it is important not to give this individual more attention than he deserves, but be assured that he who alleges, carries the burden of proof…..so since the person behind the fake profile named Luka Danboyi is alleging something, the burden of proof lies with him…..let him put forward the proof.

In a rather surprising twist though, the speaker confirmed that he knows the person behind the fake account…..saying the fellow messaged him privately with the spurious allegations.

In closing, the speaker thanked ViewPointNigeria for the chat and averred that he typically would not grant any parley on such matters but for the deep sense of respect and admiration he has for ViewPointNigeria as an agency.

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Speaker of the PLHA speaks to ViewPointNigeria about malicious allegations online