Politics

Reps disown purported bill seeking return to regional govt

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Akin Rotimi, has dismissed the media report on the purported “bill draft bill seeking a return to a regional system of government for Nigeria”.

Hon. Rotimi stated this via a chat posted on the Speaker Tajudeen Abbas’ Media platform Thursday evening.

Responding to the reports, the House Spokesman who denied knowledge of the purported bill, said: “It is a memorandum or a proposal. It is not a bill. At least, not yet.

“This is an important distinction.”

Further investigation made by Nigerian Tribune Parliamentary Correspondent to verify the veracity of the purported bill, showed that there is no relevant bill gazetted for First Reading since the inception of the 10th session of the House of Representatives.

All efforts made by our Correspondent to the House Committee on Rules and Business as well as the Bill Office proved abortive as there were no traces of the controversial drafted bill linked with any member of the 10th House.

In line with legislative practice and convention, proposed legislation(s), be it an executive bill or private member bill, can only be sponsored on the floor of the Senate and the House of Representatives by elected members of either chamber.

Executive bill(s) including the Appropriation bills, sponsored by the Presidency are routed through the Majority Leader of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as the case may be.

However, the author of the purported reports indicated that the ‘draft bill seeking a return to a regional system of government for Nigeria’ will be received by President Bola Tinubu on Friday.

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