TheCable

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, says there is a possibility that James Ibori, former governor of Delta state, may be his silent supporter.

Reacting to the claim of Peter Nwabaoshi, a senator, that the former governor influenced his emergence, Dogara said he does not have any personal relationship with Ibori.

He said he was duly elected by members of the lower legislative chamber.

“Our attention has been drawn to statement credited to Senator Peter Nwabaoshi, who was quoted as saying that former Delta state governor James Ibori supported the emergence of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara as speaker of the house of representatives,” the statement read.

“We have watched the video clip and noticed that there is no where the distinguish senator mentioned Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara by name.

“However, reports published in both online and print media insinuated that senator Peter Nwabaoshi referred to Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

“For the records, we want to state that the Rt. Hon. Speaker was elected by the votes of members of the house of representatives. There may well be silent supporters and well wishers of the honourable speaker from far and near some of whom he may not be aware of.

“Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara does not have a relationship, political or otherwise with former Governor James Ibori of Delta state to warrant the insinuations in the statement credited to Senator Nwabaoshi, and had never had one.”

Ibori, who was handed a 13-year jail sentence in the United Kingdom, regained freedom on Wednesday.

He was accused of mismanaging his state’s funds.