“We don’t take orders from anyone or any office, no matter how highly placed. We cannot be bullied into taking certain procedures as far as we are concerned.”
The senate has refuted media reports claiming it has suspended or withdrawn deliberations on the tax reform bills, clarifying that it merely set up a committee to engage with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, to address contentious provisions in the bills.
This followed a point of order raised by the leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti central) who criticised the media, specifically referencing a report on Arise Television, describing it as an attempt to intimidate the legislature. He asserted that the senate remains steadfast in its legislative duties and would not succumb to external pressure or misrepresentation.
He said, “I watched the Arise news last night and what was reported was that this hallowed chamber had suspended further consideration of the tax reform bills before the senate.
“The reporter even invited the governor of Nasarawa state and pointed it to the governor saying ‘now that the senate has withdrawn,’ he used the word withdrawn these tax reform bills, suggesting that they were confusing and problematic.”
Bamidelementioned that the reporter had asked “what would you say Mr Governor, are you happy that these bills have been withdrawn and the governor said i am not just happy because the bills have been withdrawn but i am happy because this will now give us a chance for all of us to discuss.”
Further underscoring the legislature’s independence,Bamidele said: “We have not suspended or withdrawn deliberations on the tax reform bills. Any attempt to intimidate the senate is undemocratic. These bills are executive communications, and only the executive arm can withdraw them. We remain steadfast in our legislative responsibilities. We don’t take orders from anyone or any office, no matter how highly placed. We cannot be bullied into taking certain procedures as far as we are concerned.
“We do not move from one tv station to another; the privilege that we have is the floor of the senate. This is where we do our deliberations, this is where we make the law, this is where we do effective representation of our people and if you have issues to clarify, this is also the floor that we have rather than issuing press statement. It was a misunderstanding of the legislative process for anybody to have even reported that we had withdrawn the bills.”
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He said further: “It is only the executive arm that can withdraw these bills. They are not private member bills sponsored by any senator so no senator is going to withdraw the bill and there’s no reason for these bills to be withdrawn in the legislative process. We are continuing with the deliberation, with the consideration of this bill.
“The senate at its plenary session yesterday, took a further legislative action in the consideration of the bill and what was the further legislative action that we took? From northwest of Adamu Aliero, through the north central of Abba Moro, to the southeast of Orji Uzor Kalu, we drew out distinguished senators, from each geopolitical zone and we constituted them into an ad-hoc Committee to, on our behalf, further interface. We were clear about what we were doing.”
In his response, Senate President Godswill Akpabio reiterated the chamber’s commitment to a thorough and deliberate process. He dismissed claims of hurried decision-making, emphasizing that the senate prioritizes due process and transparency.
“I must say that from your explanation, it would appear that Arise Television was totally misled into thinking that the bills were suspended or withdrawn by the senate because I watched that news when the governor of Nasarawa was asked, now that the bills have been withdrawn, are you happy?”
He further noted that the formation of the ad hoc committee underscores the senate’s intent to ensure inclusivity and representation in addressing contentious issues in the tax bills.
“We do not do our work through social media neither do we do it through any committee or congregation of the church or any forum of any nature. We do our work according to our conscience in the best interest of Nigeria and the processes of lawmaking.
“The mechanism of lawmaking can be further explained to the public. The moment the bills went through second reading in the senate, it simply means that the bills are alive. The next procedure is for the committee on finance to commence the process of consultations and public hearings with a view to bringing recommendations back to the chamber,” he added.
STAR Check: Nigerians, particularly, constituents of Ekiti Central district, can keep tabs on the legislative performance of Sen. Bamidele throughout the 10th senate here.
