Hon. Tim Kome Owhefere (KSC) Esq, Delta State House of Assembly Majority Leader and Chairman House Committee on Information and Communication has discredited a social media report that newsmen were prohibited from gaining entrance into the public gallery during plenary.
This was disclosed by the Majority Leader Who was flanked by The Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. ( Engr.) Oboro Preyor, while addressing Journalist in his office, at Asaba.
Hon. Owhefere declared openly that the allegation was never a true reflection of the situation in the State Assembly and explained that the novel Covid 19 pandemic and inline with social distancing rule, had forced the leadership of the house to adopt measures aimed at reducing human and vehicular traffic in the complex.
According to him “I want to put the record straight. You must have noticed that there is an adjusted sitting arrangement in the chambers. Since the business of governance must continue, we have to find a way out to resume plenary. Members now sit in batches and the nonessential staff was directed to stay away”.
“We read report that some journalists have been banned from coming into the gallery. That is not true. What we tried to do is to ensure that the gallery is not overcrowded. We have contacted a number of Media Houses on the development, and they responded by cutting down the number of persons they send to the gallery. The Assembly does not determine those that are sent by these Media Houses. We are only trying to restrict the number of persons at the gallery for the purpose of social distancing”.
He emphasized that the new order at the Assembly Complex as part of measures put in place to control the spread of the Coronavirus in the state and it is not peculiar to Delta State House of Assembly alone.
The lawmaker emphasized the new order affects both the members, political aides, civil servants, other support staff, and visitors to the Assembly Complex, saying that normal activities will return when the fight against the pandemic is won.
“We cannot afford to have a full gallery for now. So we have asked our political aides to stay off for now. This is to ensure we do not turn the gallery into a virus spreading unit as we all understand that it is safer to keep a safe distance from the next person. For as long as we are under this threat, we are still going to observe that. The new order is in line with the federal and state government efforts to control the dreaded Covid 19 and the full support and cooperation of everybody is required to win the war”, the Majority Leader stated.
Hon. Owhefere also said; “It is just a temporary arrangement because of the circumstances we find ourselves. It is not going to be a permanent arrangement. We just can not say everybody should sit and endanger our lives and even that of others. We can not afford to break the same very rules that we have put in place to ensure the safety of the people”.
Concluding, hon. Owhefere conveyed appreciation to journalists in the state for their reportage on the activities of the house and called for greater collaboration.
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