By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
The Anambra State Chief of Protocol, Professor Frank-Collins Okafor, has dismissed in its entirety the trending but fabricated story that the Anambra State Government denied access to three honourable members of the House of Representatives of Anambra extraction during the visit by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abass. The Speaker, who visited to commission the new zonal EFCC office in Awka, was a guest of the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, who received the visiting Speaker at the Light House in Awka.
There were reports that Hon. Lilian Orogbu, Hon. Peter Aniekwe and Hon. George Ozodinobi, of the House of Representatives, were denied access to the Anambra State Government House. However, Professor Okafor explained that they were not denied entry into the Government House of Anambra State. “As a matter of fact, what happened was not anything to raise any dust about. It was the routine security clearance procedure at the point of entry into any government house in the world,” Professor Okafor said.
Explaining the situation further, Professor Okafor observed that it is common knowledge that people do not just walk into a government house without proper clearance. “Nobody walks into the Governor’s Lodge (not even his office) without security clearance at the posts. Information on such approvals and visits is usually transmitted before the arrival of such guests to facilitate easy passage. In this case, nobody, including the security personnel, knew that they were coming, nor did they obtain any approval of such visit before their arrival. Neither the governor nor the Protocol Unit knew they were coming,” Professor Frank-Collins Okafor narrated.
Describing the story as a mere figment of the imagination of the story writer, the Anambra State Chief of Protocol cautions that such deliberate falsehood can inflame the polity for absolutely no reason. He also said that he personally explained the situation and apologized to the honourable members involved and was surprised that such a fabricated narration could be created from nothing at all. “No official of the government was alerted; none even called me too. None of us knew they were at the security clearance,” Professor Okafor emphasized.
With this clarification, the story of access denial proves to be completely false. No one walks into any Government House without proper security checks. When a visitor’s name is not found on the register of visitors at the entry point, the security will not grant the visitor access. It is a standard practice and nothing else at all beyond the fact that an attempt to breach protocol by the visitors was interrogated by the security at the government house.
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