The House of Representatives have denied the allegations making the rounds that the house demanded N480 million bribe from federal university vice-chancellors to approve their 2025 budget allocations.
According to a statement released by the spokesman of the House of Representatives, the house described the allegation as a “deliberate attempt to undermine the integrity of the House and erode public trust” in the revered institution.
In an attempt of the house to debunk the allegation and maintain the sanctity of its name, the spokesperson said it “lacks any diligent investigative effort as they would want people to believe, and instead, amplifies fabricated narratives by individuals seeking to evade accountability.”
“Unfortunately, the medium, which has become their preferred outlet for such baseless sensationalism, did not seek a reaction from the House spokesman before publishing the story, undermining its credibility and professionalism. A reaction was only requested on Monday, two days after the story was already in the public domain.
“The House encourages anyone with credible evidence of misconduct to present it to the appropriate authorities, including the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges or anti-corruption agencies like the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to independently investigate any claim of impropriety.”
“We call on all stakeholders, particularly the media, to approach their responsibilities with integrity, professionalism, and a commitment to nation-building. Together, we can strengthen our democracy and promote a more accountable and transparent governance system,” he added.
Recall that PREMIUM TIMES recently published the result of an alleged investigation it conducted, claiming that the “lawmakers are forcing the vice-chancellors of about 60 federal universities to pay N8 million each to approve their allocations in the 2025 budgets”
The investigation claimed that lawmakers, including Senators and House of Representatives members operating through the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFund and the House Committee on University Education, are demanding eight million naira from each vice chancellor, which they intend to share N4 million each to Senate and House Committees.
The alleged extortion would have yielded over N480 million if all the 60 federal universities had complied.
However, the Lawmakers through their spokesperson have debunked the reports and faulted PREMIUM TIMES for publishing a lopsided investigation, insisting that the Newspaper could have reached out to the House to verify their report before bringing it to the public domain.
