Senate Stops President From Initiating New Constitution

The move by the Senate
to empower the president to initiate a new cosntitution for the country suffered a set-back on Wednesday when the Senate Committee  on the Review of the 1999 Constitution withdrew the proposal.
The Senate Committee on Constitution Review led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, had presented a proposal which sought to amend Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution with a view to enabling the president initiate the process of evolving a new constitution through the initiation of a bill.
The proposal was one of the six fresh amendments to some sections of the constitution presented by the committee last Wedneday and on which the Senate was expected to have started voting since Wednesday.
Shortly after the motion to commence voting on the proposals, Senator Ekweremadu, apparently observing that the amendment of Section 9 of the Constitution might not survive the voting process, quickly announced the withdrawal of the controversial proposal.
The proposal had generated intense debate and controversy last week in the Senate. Senators mostly from the North described the proposal as a move to transfer the constitutional role of the National Assembly to the president. They also argued that the move ran contrary to the earlier proposal presented by the committee last year which provided that a new constitution for the country would be the exclusive preserve of the National Assembly.
The Senate President, David Mark, however, commended Ekweremadu, describing his decision to withdraw the proposal as a bold statement that the committee was very sensitve to the feelings of both the Senators and the entire nation.
Meanwhile, voting on other proposals have also been suspended sine die due to poor attendance by Senators on Wednesday.
Senator Mark observed that attendance at the session did not make up the two-thirds majority required by the Senate to vote on constitutional amendment proposals.
Some of the proposals by the committee included amendments to Sections 134 and 179 of the constitution seeking to extend the conduct of governorship and presidential run-off elections from seven to 21 days, a clause to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to de-register any political party which fails to win any seat from local government to presidential elections and a proposal to confer the exclusive jurisdiction to try offences relating to violation of the Electoral Act on the High Court.
Others are, proposal to make former Senate President and speakers of the House of Representatives members of the National Council of State, and a move to mandate the clerks of the National Assembly and State houses of assembly to notify INEC of the existence of vacant seats in the legislature, arising from death, resignation or vacation of such seats within seven days of such vacancies.

Boye Salau