The South-West Caucus in the National Assembly is to meet with the attorneys-general of the states in the South-West geopolitical zone on the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution by the federal parliament.
Yesterday the technical committee jointly set up by the caucus and governors of the geopolitical zone would soon commence work on articulating the interests of the zone.
Leader of the South-West Caucus in the House of Representatives, Mr Olufemi Fakeye, said those during a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday.
Recall that governors of the South-West states had on July 6, 2021, met with members of the National Assembly from the zone.
At the meeting were governors Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos_and Dapo Abiodun(Ogun).
Emerging from the meeting, Akeredolu said the South-West would be approaching the Constitution amendment exercise with a common front adding that a committee ahd been set up to harmonise the zone’s position.
Fakeye, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, disclosed that the committee would work during the ongoing two-month annual recess by the National Assembly.
He said, “The committee has yet to start working. What they (governors) asked was that the National Assembly (caucus), consistent with the agreement during that meeting, should send nominees to the attorneys-general of the six South-West states.
“We (leaders of the caucus) were supposed to be part of the committee. The House will send four nominees including the leader – that is my humble self; and the Senate will do the same thing – three members plus the caucus leader.
“We have agreed to meet by Zoom. We are getting the memos together and administratively, we will look at the memos. We have agreed that to the extent that people will be scattered all over the country and the world during the break period, we would be using Zoom.”
PDP lawmaker writes off efforts
However, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party from the zone said the state chief executives failed to engage the lawmakers at the right time.
According to him, while the lawmakers from the North have been supporting the interests of their region, their southern lawmakers have been backing only the interests of the APC.
“Before we left (the House) on Thursday, our position was that it would be electronic transmission of results of elections, or nothing else. By the time they (southern lawmakers) came back on Friday, they had changed position. What happened between Thursday and Friday?”
The lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, warned that the South-West, and the entire South, would record a bigger failure in the constitution amendment process than in the Petroleum Industry Bill and the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, both of which were passed amidst controversy.
He said, “The constitution amendment will be the biggest shocker; it will be the most disgraceful outing of the so-called southern senators and representatives. What you have seen with the PIB and the Electoral Act is a tip of the iceberg.”
When asked if the southern governors, especially in the South-West, have been mobilising the National Assembly caucus towards protecting the region’s interest, the lawmaker, “On lobbying and reaching out by the governors, it is zero.”
He added, “Before they agreed to hold that meeting with us, it was almost like a blackmail. Someone had to complain to (former governor of Osun State and ex-Interim National Chairman of the APC) Chief Bisi Akande, who contacted the governors.
“You could also see that when the they the Southern Governors’ Forum meeting in Lagos, they took a position of the PIB and on the Electoral Act. But which of the positions did members of the APC in the National Assembly stand by?”