Blanket Statement

The deputy speaker of the house of representatives, Idris Wase, has questioned the eligibility of Nigerians living abroad to submit petitions. Wase, who presided over plenary on Thursday, rejected a petition from “Mutual Union of the Tiv in America,” saying Nigerians in the diaspora do not “really know” the situation in Nigeria and thus are not eligible to file petitions. The petition, presented by Mark Terseer Gbillah, lawmaker representing Benue Gwer east/Gwer west federal constituency, accused the federal government of not resettling the Tiv people displaced from their ancestral land through various attacks. Thousands of Nigerians were reportedly displaced in the north-central region as a result of the farmer-herders crises. “I have a petition from the mutual union of the Tiv in America...