In what appeared to be a protest move following the defeat of a bill for an Act seeking to establish the South East Development Commission in the House of Representatives, most lawmakers from the region on Tuesday were conspicuously absent from plenary session.

It would be recalled that the defeat suffered by the bill elicited wide condemnation on Thursday forcing South East lawmakers to renew agitation for electronic voting system in House proceedings.

The death of the proposed bill, according to political analysts and observers, was chiefly due to the absenteeism of South East lawmakers who could only muster the presence of 18 out of the 43 members from the region on the day the bill was rejected by majority voice vote.

In an apparent boycott of the House session, out of the 43 members representing the region in the House, only 15 of them were present at Tuesday session, the first legislative day since the rejection of the South East Development Commission Bill.

The early callers were Chris Azubogu, (PDP, Anambra), Linda Ikpeazu (PDP, Anambra), Tony Nwoye (APC, Anambra) and Linus Okorie (PDP, Ebonyi).

Later in the day just before the House dissolved into an executive session about 12:26 p.m., Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, Solomon Adaelu, Nkeiruka Onyejiocha, Bede Eke, Chukwuemeka Ujam, Sylvester Ogbaga and Anayo Edwin strolled into the chamber.

After the session which lasted more than one hour and resumed about 1:33 p.m., Toby Okechukwu, Goodluck Opia, Dozie Nwankwo and Obinna Chidoka were also sighted briefly on the floor.

The Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyema, who doubles as the chairman of the South East caucus, later came into the chamber about 2:05 p.m‎.

Attempts at getting details of the boycott proved abortive as members who were approached to state possible reasons for their lateness to Tuesday plenary refused to talk even though there were speculations about a caucus meeting which took place at an undisclosed location.

The 15 lawmakers present at the session raised questions as to the whereabouts of the remaining 28, considering the fact that absenteeism played a big role in the defeat of the SEDC bill.‎ (Independent)

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