Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has disclosed that the Local Government Autonomy Bill is one of the biggest challenges facing the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution and remains a priority to the executive arm.
Senator Omo-Agege, who is the Chairman of the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in his office.
The expectation is that the state houses of assembly would take an independent stance on the matter rather than align with the positions of their state governors, the lawmaker added.
He, however, expressed optimism that there will be more votes in favour of this bill, particularly because the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, is actively working to find a resolution.
The Delta-born legislator equally claims that the constitutional review process is an exercise in futility. He said state houses of assembly have failed to vote on the amendment bills on local government autonomy passed and transmitted to them for concurrence.
The National Assembly on March 29, 2022, transmitted 44 Constitution alteration bills to the 36 state houses of assembly for concurrence.
Senator Omo-Agege, who is also the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Delta State, equally accused his governor Ifeanyi Okowa of mismanaging the state’s resources to the tune of N4 trillion since 2015.
He claimed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) vice presidential candidate has brought disappointment to the people by accepting to be Atiku Abubakar’s running mate.
With that move, Okowa jettisoned his right to the presidency, he argued. This, he claimed, has made Deltans more determined to punish the governor for what they have described as treachery.