The Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman, Senate Committee on Constitution Review, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has called on Nigerians, including his Urhobo clan 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 in Abuja when he played host to the apex socio-cultural umbrella body of Urhobo people, Urhobo Progress Union, UPU.
The Delta Central lawmaker said the constitutional review exercise is not a tea party by any means; stressing that 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 a 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 a two-thirds majority of both chambers here and a two-thirds majority of the 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.
He assured the UPU representatives that federal lawmakers from the area would not support anti-Urhobo legislation in the National Assembly.
Earlier, the 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 Secretariat of the Constitution Review Committee.
He urged the lawmaker to always protect the interest of Urhobos using his position as the nation’s number six citizen.