Ezrel Tabiowo
A proposal seeking to include and empower the President alongside the National Assembly in the initiation process of drafting a new constitution was yesterday rejected by senators, just as the Senate resolved to vote on the proposed new amendments to the 1999 Constitution next Wednesday.
These were the outcome of yesterday’s debate on the report of the Constitution Review Committee chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
The bill essentially seeks to further alter the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and other matters connected therewith, among others, as well as proposes an amendment to Section 9 which makes provisions for the processes of drafting a new constitution.
In his presentation of the report, Ekweremadu said the alteration being proposed on Section 9 “is to make provision for the president, in addition to the National Assembly, to initiate the process of a new constitution.”
His submission was followed by intense disagreement from lawmakers as majority of them argued on the contrary, and called for an outright rejection of the bill by the Senate.
According to the senators, should the proposal be passed by the upper chamber, it would legitimise the ongoing National Conference, through the National Assembly.
Senators Ganiyu Solomon, Solomon Ewuga, Victor Lar, Adamu Gimba, Abdul Ningi, Kabiru Gaya and Kabiru Marafa, among others, cautioned against the alteration of the constitution to pave the way for a new one, which they insisted was unnecessary as doing so would further make for complexities in the nation’s democracy.
Marafa, for instance, explained that inserting a clause to accommodate the president as one of the parties that could initiate a process for a new constitution was an attempt to usurp the powers of the executive.
He argued that going ahead with the alteration would automatically provide a window for President Goodluck Jonathan to give credibility to the National Conference.
On his part, Senator Bello Tukur said the Senate should limit its activities to the amendments of certain clauses identified by stakeholders instead of injecting new ones.
Senator Ahmed Lawan, however, posited that the process of a new constitution was currently the exclusive preserve of the National Assembly.
He said: “We must not dilute the functions of the executive nor that of the legislature.
“I can concede that any president can send request and that is provided in the Constitution. But when we say initiate, it is now taking some functions of the National Assembly away.
“Because of that I oppose this proposal that we maintain the sanctity, the purity of the functions of the executive and that of the legislature in such a way that there is no lacuna and no confusion.
“This is necessary so that in the nearest future we don’t run into a constitutional crisis where the constitution amendment process will become neither here nor there.”
But a lawmaker from the South-south, Senator James Manager, disagreed with those who opposed the amendment.
He said, “An officer of the ranking of the president can also instigate the process of a new constitution by writing to the National Assembly, presenting it as if it is an executive Bill.
“It will still come to the National Assembly exactly in ways and manners we have been dealing with bills.
“So there is absolutely nothing new, in my humble view. These are very straightforward and unambiguous matters.”
The Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, said, “There is already a provision for three classes of bills, namely members’ bills, executive bills and private member bills.”
He argued that the amendment being sought was in tandem with the provision of the Senate rules.
Ekweremadu also explained that the Senate had in July last year come up with the idea that since Section 9 did not make any provision for how a newconstitution would come into being, the lawmakers need to amend Section 9 in order to accommodate such possibility in the future.
“Because as you amend the constitution it would get to a point where you would not even know which part of the constitution has been amended and which has not been amended.
“So, time will come in the future where we will need to put these things together into a new constitution.
“Again, the society is dynamic to note that at some point there will be the need to have a new constitution.
“And we won’t be the first to do that. Other countries have done that, including Kenya, Brazil and Zimbabwe.
“So further to that we proposed an amendment to Section 9 last year on how a new constitution can come to force.
“And in that constitution we are clear in what we stated, that only the National Assembly can bring about the process of a new constitution.
“But at our committee’s meeting yesterday, we now looked at our rules, in which case the president can bring about a bill.
“So, we now felt that it is also necessary to open the door in such a way that it is not just the National Assembly that can start the process, that even thepresident can send a proposal for a new constitution.
“If we leave it as it is now, the president cannot send any proposal for a new constitution, if it is left as it is today.
“Because we have already passed a Bill shutting the president out.”
Ekweremadu explained that what his committee was doing was to open a window so that the National Assembly or the president can initiate the process,which is in accordance with the rules of the Senate.
Mark, in his final comments on the issue, asked the senators to determine whether a new constitution would emerge either in content or nomenclature.
The Senate president ruled that every senator will vote on each of the amendments so far proposed by the committee next Wednesday.
