Members of
the House of Representatives, on Thursday, voted on new amendments proposed to
the 1999 Constitution.
The House
took largely the same position as the Senate, which voted on its own amendments
on Wednesday.
But some of
striking differences included an amendment to give 35 per cent of ministerial
slots to women.
However, the
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas,
told reporters that any amendment that failed in either of the chambers had
failed automatically.
He said the
House went ahead to vote differently on some items to make Nigerians know its
position on the proposals.
“We have a
bi-camera legislature and on this matter of the constitution, whatever we
reject, that passed in the Senate, stands rejected.
“In the same
way, any item rejected by Senate and passed by the House has failed
automatically. But Nigerians must know where we stand,” he stated.
The
amendments were proposed by the House Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution Review
chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yussuff Lasun.
The House
voted to amend Section 147 of the constitution to approve that ministers must
be appointed “within 30 days after the date the President has taken the oath of
office.”
In
sub-section (c), the House approved that “at least 35 per cent of persons
appointed as ministers shall be women.”
A total of
248 members voted in support of the amendment while 48 opposed it and one
abstained.
But a
proposal for women to be accepted as indigenes in both their states of origin
and those of their husbands failed.
A total of
208 members supported the amendment while 78 opposed it.
However, the
208 was not up to the required 240 two-thirds majority provided in the
constitution to pass it.
The House,
unlike the Senate, rejected the appointment of a minister from the Federal
Capital Territory.
On many
other proposals, the House took the same position as the Senate.
For example,
the House rejected devolution of powers; approved independent candidacy for
elections; autonomy for local government councils; autonomy for state
legislature; and immunity for members of the National Assembly.
On
devolution of powers, 210 members voted to support it while 71 opposed it, with
eight abstaining.
However, the
proposal failed to pass the amendment because 210 was below the required 240
votes.
On autonomy
for local governments, 281 members voted to approve it, while 12 were against
it. One member abstained.
Lawmakers
voted 288 to support immunity for members of the legislature “in respect of
words spoken or written at plenary sessions or committee proceedings.”
On the votes
for independent candidacy, 275 members approved it while 14 kicked against it.
There was one abstention.
A total of
292 members voted in support of the proposal on restriction of tenure of office
of the President and governor.
The proposal
is a ‘A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the constitution to
disqualify a person who was sworn-in as President or Governor to complete the
term of elected President or Governor from being elected to the same office for
more than a single term, and for related matters’.
This
amendment was proposed to prevent a repeat of the scenario involving former
President Goodluck Jonathan and the late President Umar Yar’Aua.
Jonathan had
completed Yar’Adua’s remaining term when he died in 2010 and also contested the
presidential election in 2011.
There were
several incidents of rowdiness on Thursday, putting pressure on the Speaker,
Mr. Yakubu Dogara, to restore order.
One of such
instances was when lawmakers attempted to reject the proposal on reduction of
age qualification for presidential and governorship aspirants.
Better known
as ‘Not Too Young to Run’ bill, it seeks to reduce the age qualification for
presidential aspirants to 35 years and governors, 30 years.
It also
recommends 25 years for members of the House of Representatives and State
Houses of Assembly.
Although the
Senate had passed the bill on Wednesday, some members in the lower House moved
to reject it on Thursday.
As the plot
to reject the bill leaked on the floor, some of the younger members broke out
in a song, chanting “not too young to run”, “not too young to run.”
Sensing
trouble, the House Majority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, appealed to members
to pass the bill to send a message to younger Nigerians that they had a space
in the political space.
“Please, let
us support this bill. For nothing, let us send a message to our people out
there that we are with them,” he stated as the chanting continued.
When the
voting took place eventually, 261 lawmakers endorsed it while 23 voted against
it.
Earlier
before voting commenced, a member from Osun State, Prof. Mojeed Alabi, tried to
halt the process by saying that the House was progressing in error.
In Punch report, Alabi stood
up to raise a point of order while Lasun, a fellow Osun lawmaker, was given the
floor to present the amendments for voting.
But Dogara
quickly corrected him that the House had long passed the stage he was quoting.
“You are
taking us back. We passed this stage long time ago. We have held hearings on
the constitution and we are now at the point of voting.
“You are
completely out of order. Take your seat,” Dogara added.
The House
considered a total of 30 proposals, passed 21 and rejected nine items.
Under
Section 9 of the constitution, any passed by the National Assembly must still
secure the approval of two-thirds majority (24) of the 36 state Houses of
Assembly before it would be included in the constitution.
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