Tag: Water Bill

  • IPOB urges National Assemby to Reject Buhari’s Water Bill ‘plea’

    IPOB urges National Assemby to Reject Buhari’s Water Bill ‘plea’

    The leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra has urged the National Assembly not to hearken to the ‘plea’ of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for a passage into law of the National Water Resources Bill.

    President Buhari had, in 2017, presented the controversial Bill to both chambers of the National Assembly, which seeks to transfer the control of water resources from the states to the Federal Government.

    The Bill resurfaced on the floor of the House of Representatives penultimate Thursday.

    But the IPOB in a statement, on Saturday, said it was not in support of the Bill, citing an ulterior motive.

    According to the statement, which was signed by the group’s Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, it was expedient for the National Assembly to listen to the voice of caution in order to save both the Fulanis and their alleged ulterior motive in southern Nigeria, especially Biafraland.

    The statement read in part, “We, the global movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra, wish to call for caution once again over the water ways secret bill sent to the Nigerian National Assembly by Buhari and his Fulani kinsmen.

    “We wish to unequivocally state our stand once again to Buhari, the National Assembly, the Fulani and entire world that Buhari cannot use crooked means to hand over our water ways in Biafraland to Fulani from Futajalon, having passed through mighty expanse of empty land in the North. We never for once in our lifetime ventured into encroachment nor occupation of any inch or parcel of land not belonging to us despite our limited landspace.

    “The National Assembly must save Fulani because this Bill sent by Buhari will consume so many of them if they venture into any river or water way situated in Biafraland.

    “The National Assembly must stop that Bill because it will only end up in the dustbin of history as one of the useless non-implementable acts of the Nigerian National Assembly. This deliberate attempt to steal our ancestral land and waterways by trick and through the back door is dead on arrival because it will be resisted with everything that we have at our disposal. Such impunity and selfishness considering the vast expanse of land available to Fulani in Northern Nigeria.

    “Biafrans would not shy away from protecting our heritage. We are waiting for them and they would learn an unforgettable lessons the hard way.

    “This old strategy that Buhari and his kinsmen are adopting to re-introduce RUGA is not lost on us Biafrans or lost on any other nation imprisoned in the hell of a country that is worth its name. Why must Fulanis’ terrorists and their cows be forced on us, to cohabit with us in our communities, those with whom we never share a single value system.

    “Let us tell you, RUGA can never sail through for the sake of Umuchineke and no amount of their efforts would succeed in bringing RUGA evil project to fruition in our land.

    “The IPOB will never accept such permutations no matter the inducement they use to deceive the gullible, the compromised, the spineless good for nothing politicians and slaves of the uncircumcised Fulanis in Biafraland.

    “We reject that in totality, we knew that the impostor wants to secure lands and waterways for Fulani bandits and terrorists before he leaves office in less than one year, let him look elsewhere.”

    (Punch)

  • Water Bill Resurfaces at House of Reps

    The controversial National Water Resources Bill, 2020, re-emerged on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday amidst suspicions from members.

    The leadership, however, assured the lawmakers that the new version of the legislation would capture all the interests of the states.

    Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli, said the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), as well as commissioners for justice and attorneys-general of the 36 states of the federation had been consulted and the opinions received would be attached to the bill and distributed to all members.

    A member of the House from Benue State, Mark Gbillah, had raised the alarm when the bill was to be taken for the first reading.

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    Only the short title of a bill is written on the Order Paper for first reading, while a long title, which has more details, is written when listed for second reading.

    Gbillah said, “I am aware that the matter listed for first reading, the National Water Resources Bill, generated a lot of controversy within this House and even across the country, and some of us wonder why this issue is still being re-presented on the floor of the House, because some of us are not comfortably in support of this bill in the first instance.”

    The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, in his response, said, “I asked the Chairman (of the Committee on Water Resources) the same thing this morning and he told me that the issues of controversy that were raised then have been addressed by all the governors. Apparently it is a new bill, that all the governors of the federation – both South and North – participated on this bill and I want to take him by his word.”

    In his ruling, Gbajabiamila said, “I think in all honesty, Honourable Sada (Soli) has spoken on his honour as a legislator. He will not stand here and say the governors, attorneys-general of states have made input when they didn’t; they will be screaming now because this is being televised and before we leave, they will be rebutting what he (Soli) has said.”

    There were fireworks in the House on September 29, 2020, with some members, mostly from the southern part of the country, raising various legal and procedural issues against the bill.

    The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had in 2017 presented the controversial bill to both chambers of the National Assembly, which seek to transfer the control of water resources from the states to the Federal Government.

    (Punch)