The Deputy President of the
Senate and Chairman, Senate Committee on Constitution Review, Senator Ovie
Omo-Agege has called on Nigerians agitating for state creation to reach out to
elected representatives and groups from other geopolitical zones in the country.
This, he said, is to get the buy-in of other
legislators and groups, especially as they are key in determining if such
demands will see the light of the day in the ongoing Constitution amendment
exercise.
Senator Omo-Agege stated this on Wednesday in
Abuja when he hosted the apex socio-cultural umbrella body of Urhobo people,
Urhobo Progress Union (UPU).
The Delta Central lawmaker said: "Let me
also make this clear that the constitutional review exercise is not a tea party
by any means. It is a very tedious exercise. If you check Section 9 of the
Constitution, it lays out a very difficult procedure that you must go through
before you can achieve success with respect to the amendment.
"I don't know what is in your submission
but what I hear from the grapevine is that there is likelihood that UPU is
asking for a state. If that is right, I am sure you also know the provisions of
Section 8 of the Constitution. That is even more tedious than every other
procedure because unlike other sections of the Constitution that recognises a
constitution amendment bill to pass with two-third majority of both chambers
here and two-thirds majority of state assembly, for state creation, which is
under Section 8, it requires four-fifth of majority. Even more majority than
the regular two-third.
"But that is not to say it is impossible.
If the demand is genuine and legitimate, there is no reason why it should not
succeed. But you have to do the needful. You have to reach out to others. You
have to lobby as to why this should be the case.
"As the Chairman of this committee, I am
not supposed to take a position. You have to reach out to people, different
geopolitical zones and make your case. If they see the merit in your argument,
then they could, acting through their members in the House of Representatives
and Senate, go with you and vote in support. You have to go out and lobby. You
don't stay at home and they reward you with a free state. It is only in the
military that states are created by Fiat. But under democratic set up in the
1999 Constitution (as amended), the procedures are well laid out under Section
9 of the Constitution.
"So I like to believe that before making
this submission, I assume you have your Legal Adviser in the UPU who may have
taken you through some of the processes that you have to go through. But as for
us in the National Assembly, you can always count on our support because you
sent us here".
He assured the UPU representatives that federal
lawmakers from the area would not support anti-Urhobo legislations in the
National Assembly.
He said: "As the representative of the
people, we recognise and acknowledge that sovereign power resides with the
people at home. They were the ones who sent us here. Without them, there will
be no Deputy President of the Senate. There will be no member representing
Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency, neither will there be a member
representing Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency. So, power
resides with our people.
"The consequence of that is we will do what
our people want. We will do what is expected of us. We will be guided by the
content of your submission".
Members of the House of Representatives from
Delta Central including Hon. Francis Ejiroghene Waive (Ughelli North/Ughelli
South/Udu Federal Constituency) and Hon. Efe Afe (Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal
Constituency) joined Senator Omo-Agege in receiving the guests.
Earlier, leader of the group and Okobaro of
Ughievwen Kingdom, HRM Dr. Mathew Ediri Egbi (JP), Owahwa II said they decided
to pay a courtesy call on the Deputy President of the Senate after submitting
their memorandum to the Secretatiat of the Constitution Review Committee.
He urged the lawmaker to always protect the
interess of Urhobos using his position as the nation's Number Six Citizen.
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