HOW DOGARA ASKED SALAME TO PASS HE SHARIA BILL QUIETLY.

– Hon Salame said the Sahria bill in the House is meant for states already practicing Sharia

– He admitted that Dogara advised him to pass it quietly

– The bill has generated controversy from Nigerians
Abdullahi Salame who is a member of the House of Representatives has revealed how he was advised by Yakubu Dogara to speed the bill through a second reading quietly to avoid controversy.

The bill which is meant to give more power to the Sharia court of appeal has already garnered criticism and Salame who initiated it confessed that the Speaker of the House advised him to pass it quietly to avoid the controversy it eventually generated.

In an interview with premium Times, Salame who represents Gwadabawa/Illela federal constituency in Sokoto state said that Dogara although a Christian was in support of the quick passage of the bill but clarified that it will only affect states that already practise Sharia.

“I wrote the bill. I presented it. It was in the Gazette. It went through first reading and second reading. So, the Speaker, in his wisdom — you know there are some issues that is not necessary to publicly discuss them or deliberate on them to avoid problems– asked me not to make noise about it.”

“The Speaker considers this bill one of the bills that do not require much argument. Because many people could misunderstand it. At the committee, they will see the nitty-gritty of the bill. So it was the Speaker that did not allow us to debate publicly on it and he advised that we refer it to the constitutional amendment committee,” Mr. Salame said.

When contacted, the office of the Speaker referred to the statement issued by Hon. Jonathan Gaza Gbefwi about the nature of the bill.

Read the full response below:
The Bill came up on the floor and was automatically referred to the ad-hoc committee on constitution review.

There was no debate on it either for or against because the House is a democratic representatives chamber of the Nigerian people

Even if five people only have an issue with any section of the Constitution, the House will give it a listening ear.

The ad-hoc committee on Constitution review has one member per state and women and other representation.

The precedence is that it is in this committee that these kinds of matters are thrashed out.
Any bill that has potentials to divide the country into religious or tribal lines or to reopen settled constitutional issues will most likely fail in the committee.

It should be noted that constitutional review bills are special bills that undergo many stages, unlike an ordinary bill.

These include committee stage, the plenary stage for voting by 2/3rd of the House, 2/3rd of all the state Houses of Assembly before it comes back again to the National Assembly for voting again and finally it must receive presidential assent.

We are still at a very early stage in the process and Nigerians should not worry about bills of this nature as the House has shown over the years to be the protector of Nigerians’ national unity and interest.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki dismissed rumours about an impending Sharia Bill in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
He said anyone with facts about the bill in the Senate should come forward with it.