At the rowdy session, some members of the House alleged a breach of House Standing Rules while working towards passing the bill into law and relied on the anomaly to ask the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, to throw the Bill away or have it reworked and then represented for consideration.
Following this development, the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa said that the House would start the consideration of the bill afresh.
However, in a statement issued in Lagos by Philip Jakpor, Director of Programmes, CAPPA, the rights groups said plans to reintroduce the Bill smacks of disrespect for the wishes of Nigerians who have unanimously called for it to be trashed because of its ambiguous, obnoxious, and pro-privatisation clauses.
AUPCTRE National President, Benjamin Anthony, said: “We are not in any way perturbed by the withdrawal of the Bill, but we are very worried that even with the confirmation that the current effort to pass it is a backdoor deal, its promoters are still pressing ahead with trying to reintroduce it and foisting it on Nigerians.
“It is totally unexplainable and unacceptable.”
He cautioned the House of Representatives from considering the Bill in its present form, advising that Nigerians must be part of the process of a genuine people-centred Bill from the initial stages through the entire process at the National Assembly.
On his part, CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said: “By the withdrawal of the Bill by the House of Representatives our position is vindicated.
