Senator Kamarudeen Adedibu, who represents Oyo South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, may have stepped on the tail of a tiger, as Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has called for his resignation as a senator follwing his statement supporting cigarette smoking at Iseyin, Oyo State.
Programme Manager, ERA/FoEN, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, who spoke in Lagos, alleged that Adedibu made misleading statements on the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) being sponsored by Senator Olurunnibe Mamoora and which is currently before the Senate Committee on Health.
He alleged that Adedibu made insinuations that the bill, which had passed the public hearing stage was dead, as it would cause Nigeria over 600,000 jobs tied with tobacco industry.
Akinbode however said the bill was not dead and it would not cause serious job loss, stressing that tobacco industry employs less than 1,000 Nigerians. His words: “Contrary to the lies and deception of the statement credited to the senator, the National Tobacco Control Bill is not dead. The bill scaled through the second reading in the Senate in February 2009 and at that reading all the senators present and who spoke at the plenary expressed strong support for the bill.
“Indeed, the Senate President, David Mark, while referring the bill to the Committee on Health, enjoined the members to expedite action on it because of the intense lobbying power of the tobacco industry, which would seek to derail the enactment of laws that would protect the lives of Nigerians and also curtail the industry’s criminal activities.”
The ERA/FoEN chief, while calling for the recall of the lawmaker, said he (Adedibu) lied against Nigerians and his constituency by failing in his mandate to protect the health of those who voted him into power.
According to him, “By failing to abide by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Chapter 11, the Fundamental Objectives and Derivative Principles of State Policy to protect all vulnerable groups (children and women) from the effects of second hand smoking and industry manipulations, the society and the environment, also by failing to abide by the African Chapter on Human and People’s Right, which provides a healthy environment and state of well being for all people, ERA/FoEN hereby call on Adedibu to resign his position as the senator representing Oyo South Constituency.”
Programme Manager, ERA/FoEN, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, who spoke in Lagos, alleged that Adedibu made misleading statements on the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) being sponsored by Senator Olurunnibe Mamoora and which is currently before the Senate Committee on Health.
He alleged that Adedibu made insinuations that the bill, which had passed the public hearing stage was dead, as it would cause Nigeria over 600,000 jobs tied with tobacco industry.
Akinbode however said the bill was not dead and it would not cause serious job loss, stressing that tobacco industry employs less than 1,000 Nigerians. His words: “Contrary to the lies and deception of the statement credited to the senator, the National Tobacco Control Bill is not dead. The bill scaled through the second reading in the Senate in February 2009 and at that reading all the senators present and who spoke at the plenary expressed strong support for the bill.
“Indeed, the Senate President, David Mark, while referring the bill to the Committee on Health, enjoined the members to expedite action on it because of the intense lobbying power of the tobacco industry, which would seek to derail the enactment of laws that would protect the lives of Nigerians and also curtail the industry’s criminal activities.”
The ERA/FoEN chief, while calling for the recall of the lawmaker, said he (Adedibu) lied against Nigerians and his constituency by failing in his mandate to protect the health of those who voted him into power.
According to him, “By failing to abide by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Chapter 11, the Fundamental Objectives and Derivative Principles of State Policy to protect all vulnerable groups (children and women) from the effects of second hand smoking and industry manipulations, the society and the environment, also by failing to abide by the African Chapter on Human and People’s Right, which provides a healthy environment and state of well being for all people, ERA/FoEN hereby call on Adedibu to resign his position as the senator representing Oyo South Constituency.”
