In 2023, four Labour Party (LP) candidates were elected to the House of Representatives from Lagos.

Seyi Sowunmi from Ojo, Thaddeus Attah from Eti-Osa, Olawande George from Amuwo Odofin and Jesse Onuakalusi from Oshodi-Isolo II federal constituencies were elected on the LP platform.

These lawmakers were inaugurated on June 13, 2023. One year later, their performance in terms of bill sponsorship went under evaluation.

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Rinu Oduala, a social change advocate, posted some scorecards on X on Friday, expressing her dismay over the legislators’ performance so far.

CLAIM: Only one Lagos LP legislator authored some bills within their first year in office.

These Labour Party lawmakers in Lagos, except one, who were voted in through blood and tears didn’t sponsor any bills in their first year in office.How do you explain not pushing for legislative changes? @_JtAtta @GAOlawande @HonSeyiSowunmihttps://t.co/Wk6J160jPo @OrderPaper pic.twitter.com/KrX0kRv6tG— Rinu Oduala 🔥🔫 (@SavvyRinu) September 27, 2024

Among the four lawmakers, it was claimed that only Jesse Onuakalusi from Oshodi-Isolo II Federal Constituency authored some bills aimed at influencing infrastructural and social change in the country.

VERIFICATION: EQ pored through all the order papers of the 10th House of Representatives from June 2023 when it was inaugurated until July 2024 to track some of the bills presented by each representative with a particular focus on these LP lawmakers.

An order paper is a document that defines the legislature’s business for each sitting day including the introduction of bills by members. Electronic copies of these order papers were available at the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre.

A screenshot of the titles of the bills sponsored by Sowunmi and Onaukalusi in red circles.

Checks by EQ showed that two of the four legislators individually sponsored some bills as part of their lawmaking duties to the country.

A bill with a short code HB.1414, titled “Federal Medical Centres Act (Amendment) Bill 2024“, was sponsored by Sowunmi from the Ojo constituency. It passed its first reading on May 21, a few days before the first legislative year wound down.

For Onuakalusi, EQ was able to track at least seven bills that he introduced at the House in his first year.

Onuakalusi submitted a Local Industry Patronage Bill, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (Amendment) Act, National Library (Amendment) Act and Federal Capital Territory Orphanage Registration and Regulatory Agency Bill in November.

His other submissions included bills for the establishment of a Federal Vocational and Entrepreneurship Institute in Okota, the Child Rights and Welfare Commission, and a Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill.

A screenshot of Onuakalusi’s bills in red circles.

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Although there was no evidence that Attah and George had a bill to their names within the considered period, they moved some motions on different issues. One such motion on the creation of public libraries in each local government nationwide was co-sponsored by George with other lawmakers in October 2023.

CONCLUSION: With this fact, EQ concludes that two of the four lawmakers submitted different bills to the House of Representatives within the first year of their election.

VERDICT: The claim is false.
The post FACT-CHECK: Did All Lagos LP Rep Members Sponsor No Bill in First Year? appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.