Prof. Oyebode Lambasts NASS, Describes Their Celebration Of Passage Of PIB As “Comedy Of Errors”

*Says Credibility Of NASS Is On The Line
*Says Nigeria May Break If Next Presidency Does Not Go To The
South

Erudite international scholar, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN),
and Professor of International Law and Jurisprudence, Akin Oyebode,
has described the celebration of the passage of the Petroleum
Industry Bill, PIB, as a “comedy of errors”.

In an interview with DARE
ADEKANMBI of Tribune Newspaper^[1], Oyebode
said the PIB that they are trying to celebrate is fraught with
controversy in terms of who are the persons to be rewarded for the
devastation of crude oil exploitation.

He added that despite the controversy training the amendment of
the Electoral Act, only the Nigerian Communication Commission was
invited and Independent Electoral Commission has been prevented
from coming.

According to him, the members of the National Assembly do not
need to celebrate anything because their credibility has suffered a
distasteful attack.

He said, “It is actually a comedy of error for them to be
self-congratulatory for their two years in office. Their track
record is not all that ennobling. Even the PIB that they are trying
to celebrate is fraught with controversy in terms of who are the
persons to be rewarded for the devastation of crude oil
exploitation. And talking of the land bearing areas vis a vis the
frontier communities through which the pipelines pass through, the
differential in the percentage of the production cost to be paid is
causing a lot of hue and cry. If you said three or five per cent
vis a vis those over whose territory the pipelines pass, the
communities in the Niger Delta are aggrieved. They feel that they
have been enslaved and they have not been rescued from their place
of underdevelopment. So, the PIB is an issue that is continuing. It
is not a finished business yet, not to talk of being a success
story.

“Talking about the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the controversy
is still on as to whether the majority actually voted the first
time before the Speaker asked for an adjournment and requested the
intervention of the chairmen of INEC and the National
Communications Commission in terms of access to Internet. And you
know that despite the controversy, INEC was prevented from coming
and they listened only to the NCC which gave statistics that are
still a subject of debate.

“I think the National Assembly should not precipitately roll out
the drums in celebration of its records. On the contrary, their
credibility has suffered a distasteful attack. The members of the
National Assembly generally in the House of Representatives and the
Senate have to be reticent and circumspect about what the people
think of them. So, it is precipitate for them to declare a victory
song. I think their credibility is on the line. The jury is still
out about what to say of their tenure. That is my take in terms of
the National Assembly.”

On the call by some Norther Groups for the North needs to hold
on to the presidency for four more years to bring about political
equilibrium following the death of Umaru Yar’Adua which robbed the
North of half of his first tenure, Oyebode said the consequence of
doing that might be cataclysmic and it might be the end of
Nigeria.

The distinguished professor said people have the feeling that
Buhari is anti-South and the when a pole is bent, the only way to
straighten it is to bend it the other way.

He said, “Well, I have news for them. If you are going to resist
the transition that the Southern governors are honestly calling
for, then the consequence might be cataclysmic and it might be the
end of Nigeria as we know it because we are having a coalescence of
interests between South-West, South-South and the South-East. And
nobody thought of geopolitical zones when they were talking of
alternating power between the North and the South, even though the
North is no longer monolithic because we have the Benue people.

“I have heard also the North-Central people make a case for this
turn-by-turn democracy. The fault lines are becoming so obvious
that if the Northern cowboys are not careful, they might bring out
the demise of Nigeria. It is no idle threat because people have the
feeling that Buhari is anti-South and the when a pole is bent, the
only way to straighten it is to bend it the other way. So, if they
want to insist that they should call the shot, it is a gambit of
which they have to be very careful. They claim to be more populous
than the rest of the country which might be a wrong calculation
because we don’t even know how many people there are. I have heard
it said that the Yoruba people alone are about 60 million. All that
is speculation because it is when we have a proper census that we
will know how Nigeria has defeated the normal trend when people
closer to the coasts and who inhabit the evergreen forest cannot be
fewer than those who are living in Sahelian or desert
territory.

“There are so many things we are not sure of in Nigeria and the
number one thing is the census: how many Nigerians there are? If
people now know that they are really not in the majority, then the
big lie, just like Donald Trump’s big lie, will be exposed and
things will no longer be the same. That is my admonition to those
who think like that.”

*Says Credibility Of NASS Is On The Line
*Says Nigeria May Break If Next Presidency Does Not Go To The
South

Erudite international scholar, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN),
and Professor of International Law and Jurisprudence, Akin Oyebode,
has described the celebration of the passage of the Petroleum
Industry Bill, PIB, as a “comedy of errors”.

In an interview with DARE
ADEKANMBI of Tribune Newspaper^[1], Oyebode
said the PIB that they are trying to celebrate is fraught with
controversy in terms of who are the persons to be rewarded for the
devastation of crude oil exploitation.

He added that despite the controversy training the amendment of
the Electoral Act, only the Nigerian Communication Commission was
invited and Independent Electoral Commission has been prevented
from coming.

According to him, the members of the National Assembly do not
need to celebrate anything because their credibility has suffered a
distasteful attack.

He said, “It is actually a comedy of error for them to be
self-congratulatory for their two years in office. Their track
record is not all that ennobling. Even the PIB that they are trying
to celebrate is fraught with controversy in terms of who are the
persons to be rewarded for the devastation of crude oil
exploitation. And talking of the land bearing areas vis a vis the
frontier communities through which the pipelines pass through, the
differential in the percentage of the production cost to be paid is
causing a lot of hue and cry. If you said three or five per cent
vis a vis those over whose territory the pipelines pass, the
communities in the Niger Delta are aggrieved. They feel that they
have been enslaved and they have not been rescued from their place
of underdevelopment. So, the PIB is an issue that is continuing. It
is not a finished business yet, not to talk of being a success
story.

“Talking about the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the controversy
is still on as to whether the majority actually voted the first
time before the Speaker asked for an adjournment and requested the
intervention of the chairmen of INEC and the National
Communications Commission in terms of access to Internet. And you
know that despite the controversy, INEC was prevented from coming
and they listened only to the NCC which gave statistics that are
still a subject of debate.

“I think the National Assembly should not precipitately roll out
the drums in celebration of its records. On the contrary, their
credibility has suffered a distasteful attack. The members of the
National Assembly generally in the House of Representatives and the
Senate have to be reticent and circumspect about what the people
think of them. So, it is precipitate for them to declare a victory
song. I think their credibility is on the line. The jury is still
out about what to say of their tenure. That is my take in terms of
the National Assembly.”

On the call by some Norther Groups for the North needs to hold
on to the presidency for four more years to bring about political
equilibrium following the death of Umaru Yar’Adua which robbed the
North of half of his first tenure, Oyebode said the consequence of
doing that might be cataclysmic and it might be the end of
Nigeria.

The distinguished professor said people have the feeling that
Buhari is anti-South and the when a pole is bent, the only way to
straighten it is to bend it the other way.

He said, “Well, I have news for them. If you are going to resist
the transition that the Southern governors are honestly calling
for, then the consequence might be cataclysmic and it might be the
end of Nigeria as we know it because we are having a coalescence of
interests between South-West, South-South and the South-East. And
nobody thought of geopolitical zones when they were talking of
alternating power between the North and the South, even though the
North is no longer monolithic because we have the Benue people.

“I have heard also the North-Central people make a case for this
turn-by-turn democracy. The fault lines are becoming so obvious
that if the Northern cowboys are not careful, they might bring out
the demise of Nigeria. It is no idle threat because people have the
feeling that Buhari is anti-South and the when a pole is bent, the
only way to straighten it is to bend it the other way. So, if they
want to insist that they should call the shot, it is a gambit of
which they have to be very careful. They claim to be more populous
than the rest of the country which might be a wrong calculation
because we don’t even know how many people there are. I have heard
it said that the Yoruba people alone are about 60 million. All that
is speculation because it is when we have a proper census that we
will know how Nigeria has defeated the normal trend when people
closer to the coasts and who inhabit the evergreen forest cannot be
fewer than those who are living in Sahelian or desert
territory.

“There are so many things we are not sure of in Nigeria and the
number one thing is the census: how many Nigerians there are? If
people now know that they are really not in the majority, then the
big lie, just like Donald Trump’s big lie, will be exposed and
things will no longer be the same. That is my admonition to those
who think like that.”