THE member representing Uvwie/Okpe/Sapele Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, Hon Evelyn Oboro, said she has reported a senator to Senate leadership over an alleged attempt to claim the glory for the FUPRE Bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari last week.
The female federal lawmaker said that the Bill establishing the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE), Delta State, was her brainchild, dating back to 2014 when she assembled consultants to draft the bill.
Hon Oboro made the claim while playing host to a delegation of various academic unions from FUPRE, on Saturday who was on a ‘thank you’ visit for ensuring that the FUPRE Bill was signed into law.
She said that she had to tell the world the truth about the FUPRE Bill because “some political dramatists” want to reap where they did not sow.
Ostensibly referring to Senator Ovie Omo-Agege representing Delta South Senatorial district, Obori said she had intimated the Senate leadership that one ‘senior brother’ was attempting to steal her intellectual property.
Senator Omo-Agege had, during a media chat in Delta last weekend, listed the FUPRE Bill as one of the bills already passed by both chambers and waiting for the president’s assent without making any clear statement on who sponsored it to the chambers.
Perhaps irked by media reports emanating from the chat, Hon Oboro, contended that “This Bill we are talking about today is my brainchild and a product of my endeavor.
“It is my intellectual property because I actually engaged the services of consultants to look into it and they drafted this Bill which I presented in 2014 and the Bill was sent to the Senate for concurrence.
“I do not want to join issues, but it is very important for me to let you know that there are a lot of political dramatists in the state.
“I am not a political dramatist, I am a realist and what I cannot do, I will not tell you that I will do it.
“I have never been known for crafting and assuming ownership of what belonged to someone else.
“Ordinarily when a Bill is passed, there will be no need for a public hearing and visitation because the Bill has already been passed.
“When a Bill has been passed, the next thing is for it to be sent to the President for assent.”
“So when you see a drama about a Bill that has been passed by the House of Representatives, sent to the Senate for concurrence and somebody came up with the same Bill and introduced it as a fresh Bill that he is sponsoring, it sounds funny.
“And then in an attempt to suppress me, because I am a woman, and to kill my voice and to steal the glory that God has given to me, you move traditional rulers, for no reason, from Delta State to Abuja and staged-managed a public hearing which was not necessary in the first place.”
She explained that the Bill, after it was passed by the house, was delayed from being signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan due to the political shenanigans that ensued during the build-up to the 2015 general elections.
Earlier, Dean Students Affairs, FUPRE, Goodwill Ofualagba, who spoke on behalf of the various academic unions, thanked Hon Oboro for the fighting spirit she put up in ensuring that the FUPRE Bill was passed and signed into law, adding that the moral of the staff of the university had been boosted.
Ofualagba, however, appealed to the federal lawmaker to ensure that the FUPRE Law was implemented.
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