HURIWA Demands Imasuen Resign From Senate Ethics Committee Over US Fraud Allegation

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has demanded that Senator Neda Imasuen resign from the Senate Ethics Committee over allegations of multimillion-dollar fraud and gross misconduct while practising law in the US.

Since the report emerged that the senator was barred from practising law in the US, he has not reacted. Attempts to speak with the senator failed as he did not respond to messages sent to him as of the time of this report.

However, HURIWA called on the “Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the claim, just as Senator Imasuen should immediately step down from the Senate’s ethics and Petitions committee.”

The group emphasised that the “Senate owes Nigerians a clear explanation for why the leadership appointed Senator Imasuen to such a serious committee on ethics and public petitions without ascertaining his professional records.”

It argued that “if this damaging accusation of fraud made against Senator Imasuen is confirmed to be credible, it would be logically and ethically impossible for a believable reason to be adduced by the Senate’s hierarchy on why someone with ethical baggage is saddled with the onerous function and power of enforcing ethical standards and heading a strategic panel charged with investigating public petitions.

“It is against natural law for such a serious error of judgment to have been committed by the Senate president. If it is true, the Senate president should tender a public apology to Nigerians,” the group said in a statement.

Imasuen, who is 66 years old, rode on the waves of the Labour Party to win the Edo South senatorial poll in 2023 and worked his way to becoming the chair of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, urged the relevant investigative agency, such as the ICPC, to probe the senator regarding the alleged case of fraud.

“We are also calling on the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, to relieve Mr Imasuen of his appointment or suspend him from that position of heading the Ethics and Public Petitions Committee until clearer information emerges based on the investigation of the ICPC or an available response from a Freedom of Information request.

“We urge Nigerian lawyers practising in New York to officially obtain a detailed report from the New York bar on the allegation that Imasuen was disbarred from law practice in New York and under which circumstances.

“The findings should be published widely for Nigerians to read and ascertain if this serious allegation against Senator Imasuen is true or false.”

HURIWA Demands Imasuen Resign From Senate Ethics Committee Over US Fraud Allegation is first published on The Whistler Newspaper