By Rotimi Idris
The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele has faulted claims that he is working against the interests of the Yoruba in the National Assembly.
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 made this clarification in a statement by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs on Wednesday, thereby challenging 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.
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,” Bamidele said.
Bamidele, however, warned that he would not hesitate to legally challenge any individual or establishment fabricating and circulating fake news against his person and office.
Currently, according to the senate leader, there is no proposal for the return to the regional government before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
He further said: “How then 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,” he said.