Legislators of the People’s Democratic Party at the National Assembly have shown their support for the decisions made by the Southern Governors Forum over the Petroleum Industry Bill, state policing and electronic transfer of results. 

Senate Majority Leader Eyinnaya Abaribe and his House of Representatives counterpart, Ndudi Elumelu, commended the southern governors for their decisions while addressing the press in Abuja, promising to make sure all the demands of the governors presented before the National Assembly are met.

The governors who met in Lagos on Monday had rejected the three per cent equity share allocated to oil bearing host communities, as well as the 30 per cent set aside for frontier states in the PIB passed by the Senate.

The governors also frowned at the attempt to expunge provisions for electronic transmission of election results from the 2010 Electoral Act undergoing amendment at the National Assembly.

Legislators from the oil-producing region had protested the equity share holding during the House’s session but had been ignored by the Senate President Ahmed Lawan.

Senate President Ahmed Lawan mocked lawmakers against the bill, saying “the demons have been defeated in this chamber, We have passed the bill.”

The southern governors also pushed for state police in the ongoing 1999 Constitution review.