Oyo Lawmaker turns bouncer, walks out journalists from COVID-19 probe

Rep. Adedeji Stanley Olajide representing Ibadan Southwest and Northwest Constituency of Oyo State, on Friday, pounced on and chased out journalists from a public hearing on COVID-19, held at the National Assembly.

The Oyo lawmaker went berserk at the public hearing, organised by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on COVID-19 on the need to investigate medical research in the fight against COVID-19 and other diseases in Nigeria.

The event was attended by the minister of health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, minister of state for health, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, the director-general of NCDC, Dr. Chike Ihekweazu and other heads of agencies in the ministry of health.

The fracas began when the event was ongoing. A member of the ad hoc committee had observed that the meeting room was crowded and sought the permission of the Chairman of the committee, Rep. Haruna Mshelia (APC-Borno) to cut the number of attendants.

Consequently, Rep. Mshelia said that no more persons should be allowed into the hall, so as to maintain social distancing.

“Please, we have the minister of health with us here and we have to adhere strictly to the PTF social distancing recommendations. So, Sergeant at arms, please, open the doors but don’t allow any more people to come in.

“Let’s just maintain the number we have in the hall. Hon. Colleague, your observation is sustained”, Hon. Mshelia stated.

But instead of preventing more people from entering the hall, the Oyo Lawmaker, Mr Olajide, instead, singled out journalists already in the hall, for eviction.

Akinjide ordered the sergeant-at-arms to drag out any guest or journalists who challenged his unruly behaviour, leading to a protest by the journalists at the venue.

Consequently, two members of the ad hoc committee, led by Rep. Umanah from Akwa Ibom intervened and pleaded with the journalists to ignore the harassment and continue with their coverage of the investigation.

It is on record that Akinjide, a first-time lawmaker in the House has never sponsored any bill in the last one year, neither has he sponsored a single motion on the floor of the House.

This is not the first time Akinjide is seen engaging in a touting behaviour. At the last meeting of the committee, he was seen harassing people for not wearing face masks, when he had none on his face and many of the lawmakers did not wear any.