The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has faulted claims and narratives in some media platforms that he is working against the interests of the Yoruba in the National Assembly.
The Senator representing Ekiti Central said the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution has yet to receive a proposal for returning to the regional government.
He said, “How then can I oppose the proposal not currently before the Constitution Review Committee? I believe this statement is politically motivated to discredit me before Nigeria as a whole.
“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 Yoruba’s interests.
I will never do so for any reason,” he said.
Bamidele also said the claims “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.
He clarified this in a statement made available to newsmen by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs.
He thereby challenged any person with audio-visual and documentary evidence to come out and present such.
‘’Some media platforms had falsely attributed a statement to the senate leader that “If we allow the regional system in Nigeria, we would have automatically given the easterners Biafra.”
Faulting the statement on Wednesday, Bamidele said 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.
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