Politics
Still On Constitution Amendment
Since the return of democratic governance in the country, Nigerians have been clamouring for a constitution that will truly reflect the wishes and aspirations of the people. The 1999 constitution which was inherited from the military was charcterised by so many contradictions and sufficiently deficient of democratic ideals. As a result some sections of the Nigerian populace have been calling for sovereign national conference to discuss and decide the essence of their union as a nation.
But the National Assembly has repeatedly disagreed with this school of thought, saying that the legislative arm which is an embodiment of representative democracy is qualified and competent to tackle the issues bothering on the unity and progress of the Nigerian state.
Therefore, an attempt was made by the National Assembly in 2005 to review the Nigerian constitution to address some of the grey areas that were identified by the legislators and the Nigerian public in general. The Constitution Review Committee under the leadership of the then Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, having traversed the length and breadth of the country to canvass for people’s opinions and contributions came up with 120 recommendations, including the vexatious issue of tenure elongation for former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Because of the selfish interest of the proponents of tenure elongation for Chief Obasanjo as they failed to ascertain the mould of the Nigerian masses who were yearning for a better and responsive leadership, the National Assembly was tense and polarized to the extent that it was naturally reasonable to throw out the entire bill on the proposed constitution review.
But the need for the constitution to be reviewed came up stronger and received the attention of the last National Assembly. Consequently, a Constitution Review Committee, headed by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu was set up to address the salient issues. At the end of the exercise there were positive outcomes such as, making primary election mandatory for political parties; the granting of financial autonomy to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), fixing of specific time-frame for treating of election petitions etc. The amendments of these constitutional provisions actually played significant role in sanitizing the nation’s electoral system to considerable extent in the last two years.
Although there is much to be done in this regard, we must start from somewhere in our quest to build a solid electoral system as a basis for a virile and credible democratic culture.
Again, in a bid to do a thorough job the 7th National Assembly constituted another Constitution Review Committee under leadership of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekwerenmadu to draw up a bill on proposed amendment of the constitution.
It is interesting to note that the committee has carried out its assignment within the time-frame and Nigerians are waiting for the Senate to commence debate on the bill.
Speaking in Abuja, at a symposium on “The review of the 1999 constitution and its impact on much-needed judicial reforms,” organised by a group known as Rule of Law Foundation, the chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Senator Ike Ekweremadu gave snippets of some of the recommendations of the committee which include, the separation of the office of the Attorney-General (AG) of the federation from that of Minister of Justice, seven years tenure for Attorney-General; financial autonomy for the AG as funds for the office will be made available from the consolidated revenue fund; conferment of powers on the AG to investigate certain crimes and removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and other serving judicial officers as members of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
The committee’s recommendations also cover the devolution of powers, creation of more states, recognition of six geo-political zones in the constitution, constitutional role for traditional rulers and local government councils as well as the need to expunge the Land Use Act, the National Youth Service Corps Act and the Public Complaints Act from the Constitution.
Others are single term of six years for the president and governors, fiscal federalism, financial autonomy for local government councils, state electoral bodies and assemblies, the immunity clause, Nigeria Police, rotation of executive officers, gender and special groups, mayoral for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), residency and indigene provisions.
Ekweremadu explained that the constitution would not be subjected to referendum, noting that the constitution specified how it should be amended and that did not include referendum.
He stressed the need for urgent reform of the judiciary.
“With a morally upright and well-reformed judiciary that applies the letters of the law fairly and timely, the systems manipulation, over-heating of our polity, reign of impurity in high and low places, the blatant disrespect for the law and rape of public treasury would abate considerately.
He said that the proposal for judicial reform submitted by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mustapher was being considered.
In his key-note address, Justice Musdapher stated that the breakdown of law and order in the North-East might not be unconnected with the fact that people had lost faith in the nation’s laws and the justice delivery system.
He said that there was an urgent need to pass the bill for amendment of certain provisions of the constitution that affected the judiciary.
But one issue that has continued to attract national discourse since the recommendations of the committee became public knowledge is the single tenure for the president and governors. Majority of Nigerians that have criticised this recommendation are of the view that it will increase the rate of corruption in the country.
According to them, for a political office-holder who knows that he has a single term the chances are that he may not be useful to the people who elected him into office. They have argued that the country will be worse off in all facets of its national life as little attention will be paid to developmental needs of the people.
Moreso, the lawmakers who are constitutionally empowered to check the excesses of the chief executive will not muster the courage to initiate impeachment proceedings against them since they are equally interested in the spoils of office.
However, there are other issues that should occupy the minds of Nigerians apart from the single tenure. Devolution of powers and fiscal federalism are some of these issues that should be properly addressed by our elected representatives. A situation where so much powers are concentrated at the centre is not in the interest of the federating units.
The president of the country is so powerful that his action or inaction has a multiplier effect on the destiny of this nation. It is an axiom that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Therefore, it is imperative for the National Assembly to critically examine the need for devolution of powers to strengthen and deepen the nation’s democracy.
Another issue that should be given adequate attention is fiscal federalism. It is not justifiable that the federal government should be receiving over 50% of the monthly allocations from the federation account while the 36 states and 774 local government councils in the country should have something less to attend to their numerous financial obligations. It is obvious that the burden of development lies with the second and third tiers of government that are visibly closer to the people. It is morally sound that the states and local government areas that generate these resources should have greater chunk of the revenue. We cannot continue to run a system where federal institutions and projects are poorly funded, abandoned or in deplorable state in spite of the huge budgetary allocations that are available to the federal government to address these problems.
Mighty glad, Nigeria has experienced over fourteen years of uninterrupted democracy, it is incumbent on the law-makers who are major beneficiaries of democratic governance in Nigeria to rise to the occasion by tackling some of these issues headlong and dispassionately.
Therefore, it is expected that the National Assembly will grab this opportunity with both hands and come up with a constitution that will reflect the wishes and aspirations of greeter majority of Nigeria.
A senator who represented Taraba Central, Mr Abubakar Yusuf, has declared that the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu are not yielding the expected results.
His comment is one of the strongest internal critiques yet from within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The comment underscores the growing dissatisfaction within sections of the ruling party over the direction and impact of the administration’s economic reforms amid rising living costs and fiscal pressures across the country.
Mr Yusuf, who served in the Senate between 2015 and 2023 under the platform of the APC, made the remarks during an appearance on national television.
Responding to a question on whether the administration’s economic direction, often referred to as Tinubunomics, was working, Mr Yusuf answered in the contrary.
“For me, it is not working. I am a member of the APC. I would be the last person to hide the facts”, he said.
He said while the government might be operating diligently within its policy structure, the framework itself is ill-suited to Nigeria’s current realities
“Within the policy framework, yes, they are doing their best, but it is not the framework that is suitable for Nigeria at the point in time that President Asiwaju came into power,” he said.
Mr Yusuf criticised the immediate removal of fuel subsidy on the day the president was sworn in, arguing that the decision lacked sufficient consultation and planning.
“I am one of those who say President Asiwaju ought to have waited. Not on the day he was sworn in to say subsidy is gone. On what basis?”, he asked.
He urged broader engagement before major fiscal decisions are taken.
“Sit down with your cabinet, sit down with your ministers, sit down with your advisers,” he said, dismissing the argument that subsidy removal was justified solely on grounds of corruption.
The former lawmaker identified “structural flaws” in the country’s budgeting system, particularly the envelope budgeting model.
“One of the basic problems is that before you budget, you should have a plan. The envelope system we have been operating has been you budget before you plan. That has been a major issue”, he said.
He argued that allocating spending ceilings without aligning them to concrete development strategies inevitably weakens implementation and delivery.
“If you give me an envelope which is contrary to my plan, whether it is plus or minus, there is no way I am going to implement my plan. It is bound to fail,” he said.
Mr Yusuf called for the scrapping of the envelope budgeting system, noting that he had consistently opposed it even during his years in the National Assembly.
“It is not good for us. It is not going to work well for us,” he said.
He further blamed poor capital releases and persistent deficit financing for undermining budget performance over the years.
“We could not meet 60 percent of our capital budget in all these years. No releases. If you make a budget and the release is very poor, there is no way the budget will be executed”, he stated.
According to him, weak fund disbursement mechanisms and reliance on deficit financing have entrenched a cycle of underperformance.
“Our budget ought to have been a surplus budget, but all our budgets have always been deficit financing budgets,” Mr Yusuf added.
The Nigerian House of Representatives has resolved to reconvene for an emergency session tomorrow February 17, 2026, to deliberate on issues arising from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) release of the timetable for the 2027 general elections.
The decision was disclosed in a statement issued by the House Spokesman, Rep. Akin Rotimi, who described the electoral body’s announcement as one of “constitutional and national significance.”
INEC had fixed February 20, 2027, for the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
According to the statement, members of the Green Chamber were notified of the emergency sitting through an internal memorandum from the Speaker’s office.
The session is expected to focus on legislative matters connected to the newly released timetable, reflecting the House’s resolve to act promptly on issues affecting the nation’s democratic process.
Rep. Rotimi noted that all related businesses would be treated with urgency and urged lawmakers to prioritise attendance in view of the importance of the deliberations.
INEC had on Friday formally unveiled the comprehensive schedule for the 2027 polls, including timelines for party primaries slated for July to September 2026, as well as the commencement of Continuous Voter Registration in April 2026.
The development comes amid ongoing consultations and proposed amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the 2027 general elections.
As the controversy over the transmission of election results continues across the country, the Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD), a pro democracy organisation in the country, has criticised the National Assembly for not giving express approval to real time transmission of elections results.
To this end, the group is calling on all civil society organisations in the country to mobilise and push for a better Electoral Reform in the country.
This was contained in a press statement titled, “Defence For Human Rights and Democracy Demands Real Time Election Transmission of Result”, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt.
The group described the refusal of compulsory real time transmission of result results by the Senate as undemocratic, adding that the situation will give room for election manipulation, rigging and voters apathy.
It said that the provision of mandatory real time transmission of election results would have significant improvement on the nation’s democracy.
According to the statement, “Since the return of democracy in 1999 to date, it is 27 years, so our Democracy has metamorphosed from being nascent and as such significant improvement should have been recorded.
“Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD), is really disappointed at the National Assembly, especially the upper chamber (Senate) for not approving ‘Real Time Electronic Transmission of Election Result’.
“This undemocratic act of theirs, if not tamed, will give room for election manipulation and rigging’”.
Signed by Comrade Clifford Christopher Solomon on behalf of the organisation, the statement further said, “The Defence For Human Rights and Democracy unequivocally supports real time transmission of election result”, stressing that his group will resist any act by the National Assembly to undermine the nation’s democracy.
“DHRD,unequivocally supports ‘True Democracy’, which is Government of the people, by the people and for the people.
“Therefore, anything that will crash the hope of Nigerians to Freely, Fairly and Transparently elect candidates of their choice in any given election should and will be vehemently resisted because good governance begins with leaders elected through credible process. By so doing, leaders have entered a social contract with the citizens to equitably manage their affairs and abundant resources”, the statement added.
It urged the National Assembly to revisit the issue in order to avoid civil unrest.
According to the DHRD, “To avoid civil unrest,voters apathy, election rigging and manipulation, rather to promote citizens participation, advancing our Democracy and entrenching free, fair, credible and acceptable electoral outcome, the National Assembly should amend the electoral act in a manner that will deepen our democracy and boost citizens confidence.
“On this note, The Defence For Human Rights And Democracy (DHRD), is calling on all other civil society organisations (CSOs) to mobilise, organise and push for a better electoral act amendment by the National Assembly”.
By: John Bibor
