Senate President David Mark yesterday assured Nigerians that the Senate would pass the Freedom of Information Bill already passed by the House of Representatives.

Mark gave the assurance when the executive members of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) led by its President, Chief Olushola Ogunshola, paid him a courtesy visit in his office.

“Ordinarily, there is no need for you to come because we have assured that we are going to pass the bill. “The bill is not for the media alone but for everybody. However, there is need to guarantee that the media will use the bill responsibly,’’ he said.

He added, “Passage of the bill into law is not a problem but we must show enough restraint and responsibility in order to avoid recklessness in the discharge of our duties.  The media must be able to protect the ordinary man from abuse and recklessness by some of its members.”

Mark noted that the Nigerian Press Council had failed in its duty of sanctioning any media organisation found to have gone against the ethics of the profession.

Earlier, the President of the NPAN, Ogunshola urged the Senate to pass the Freedom of Information Bill.

He also pleaded that the Senate should not change the name of the bill to Access to Information as done by the House of Representatives.

Ogunshola noted that although the bill was passed by the last National Assembly but was not signed into law, noting that there was still another historic opportunity for the current National Assembly to pass it.

“There is still another historic opportunity for you to pass the bill and allow President Goodluck Jonathan to sign it.

Nigerians will remember you for that. The bill should be passed before the general elections,’’ he said.

He said that efforts had also been made to correct the initial misconceptions about the bill.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Muhammed Abba-Aji,  had denied reports credited to him on Igbo presidency and the Freedom of Information Bill.

Abba-Aji was quoted in the media as saying that there was no vacancy for the Igbos in 2015 and that he would prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan not to sign the Freedom of Information Bill.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Abba-Aji said that he had not at any time made such a statement.

“I hereby categorically state that I have not at any time made such a statement.

Contrary to this statement, I strongly believe that my Igbo brothers and sisters have equal rights with all members of other ethnic groups to seek any public office including the exalted office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“As it relates to Vice President Namadi Sambo, it is entirely my personal view, which he neither desired nor solicited. I therefore, hereby withdraw it, and regret any misunderstanding that it might have generated,” he said.

He added: “On the issue of the Freedom of Information Bill, what I did was to draw attention to the conflict that in my view, it is likely to have with Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as it relates to the oath of office and the Official Secrecy Act, which is yet to be repealed.

“I also tried to make the distinction between the Freedom of Information Bill, which seeks to compel public officers to reveal official matters and the Freedom of Press, which is already enshrined as Section 39 of the Constitution.”

However, mixed reactions have greeted the amended Electoral Act, especially the aspect that stopped the removal of governors through the courts.

Some politicians, who spoke to newsmen in Lagos yesterday, said that the removal of the power of the court to remove a sitting governor was in order.

However, others argued that it would give governors, who won an election through rigging, a second chance to rig.

Our correspondent reports that the former Electoral Act 2006 empowered the judiciary to nullify elections and give the mandate to the authentic winner of an election.

The newly amended act strips the court and the tribunal of the powers to remove from office a sitting governor for irregularities except through a re-run election.

When a sitting governor is found guilty, he should be disqualified from that election and its party should nominate somebody else,’’ Onimisi said.

But Malam Yusuf Buba, National Chairman, Advanced Congress for Democrats (ACD), commended the National Assembly for the amendment.

According to him, the power given to the judiciary to remove a sitting governor found to have rigged into office could corrupt the judiciary.

“If the power still lies with the judiciary, it can make it corrupt, but a re-run election will make it easier for people to come out and still exercise their civic rights, he said.