By Ayodele Oni
Senate leader, Opeyemi Bamidele has clarified that there is no proposal for the return to the regional government before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
Bamidele, senator representing Ekiti central also faulted claims that he is working against the interests of the Yoruba in the National Assembly.
He made the clarification in a statement by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs on Wednesday, challenging any person with audio-visual and documentary evidence to come out and present such
“How can I oppose the proposal that is not currently before the Constitution Review Committee? I believe this statement is politically motivated to discredit me before Nigeria as a whole.
“Already, the 10th Senate Constitution Review Committee has received 37 fresh constitution alteration bills. The Committee is also considering 16 constitution alteration bills inherited from the 9th National Assembly, making 53 alteration bills altogether.
“None of these alteration bills proposed the return to the regional federal governance structure as practised in the First Republic.
“Linking me to an anti-regional government is a deliberate attempt to tarnish my image. I am not working against the interest of the Yoruba. I will never do so for any reason.”
Bamidele, also, explained that the claims of being anti Yoruba “are baseless, false and unfounded,” noting that he had been dutifully serving the interests of Ekiti Central, Ekiti State, South-west and Nigeria by extension since his election into the National Assembly.
Reacting to a viral statement credited to him that “If we allow the regional system in Nigeria, we would have automatically given the easterners Biafra, Bamidele stated that he never made such a statement, which he said, was an attempt to pitch him against the Yoruba and other ethnic nationalities in the federation.
He added that he did not make any statement about the regional government in line with the 1960 and 1963 Constitution at the 27th-28th September 2024 Senate Retreat on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
“The claim is far from the truth. I never spoke about the return to the regional government at any forum; neither did I make a claim that ‘If we allow the regional system in Nigeria, we would have automatically given the easterners Biafra.’
“It is a sheer case of misinformation and deliberate fake news, which do not in any way represent my worldview about federal governance structure.”
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