Lobbyists whose main task is to ensure that the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, escapes the impending prosecution in the hands of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) laid seige to National Assembly throughout the week.

Ogbulafor is due to face the Abuja High Court over charges of alleged corrupt practices when he served as minister of economic matters in the Presidency, during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The ICPC last Monday secured the leave of the court to prosecute Ogbulafor and four others for the alleged crime running into N104 million. The case was adjourned to May 3.
Investigations by the Saturday Tribune indicate that Ogbulafor’s men laid siege to offices of the presiding and principal officers of the National Assembly all through the week.

It was gathered that while the embattled chairman has restricted himself to moving in the night, his emissaries roamed the offices of key National Assembly members all through the week to persuade them, in the bid to get the man off the hook.

But sources had said that the team appeared to have hit a brickwall in the House of Representatives, where, it was gathered, they were told to await the rulings of the court.

A source said that Speaker Dimeji Bankole had been non-committal to the lobbyists as he was unsure of the message that would come from the acting President if he ever raised the matter.

It was gathered that Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, had insisted, during recent meetings with top members of his party, that he would not intervene in Ogbulafor’s case and that he would not do the same for any other member of the government who runs foul of the law.

A source said besides meeting with principal officers of the House of Representatives, including the Deputy Speaker, Honourable Bayero Nafada and the House Leader, Honourable Tuned Akogun, Ogbulafor’s emissaries had also met with the Speaker.