Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has denied having political affiliation with the former governor of Delta state, James Ibori.

Dogara in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Turaki Hassan ‎said the Speaker has no relationship whatsoever with the former governor who had just served out his jail time in a London prison.

Apparently responding to insinuations that the Senator representing Delta north senatorial district, Peter Nwabaochi, Turaki said; “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.”
He also stated that the Senator did not mention the current speaker in his statement.

“We have watched the video clip and noticed that there is nowhere 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,” he said.

According to Turaki; “For the records, we want to state that the 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.