By Michael Agbaji
The on going Constitutional Amendment at National Assembly suffered major set back as the National Assembly has accused the Governors of using their influence on the State House of Assembly to truncate the process.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendment and Deputy Senate president Ovie Omo-Agege made statement during the joint press conference held on the progress so far at the National Assembly in Abuja.
According to him, Only 11 state out of 36 state legislatures have considered and voted on the 44 constitution amendment bills passed by the National Assembly earlier in the year.
The states whose houses of assembly have voted on the bills are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Delta, Edo, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Ogun and Osun states.
This comes about six months after the bills were passed and transmitted to the states for their legislative votes.
Twentyfive other states have failed to consider the bills.
The states have threatened to take no action on the bills unless four more constitutional amendment bills are considered and passed by the National Assembly on the four bills,these are: the bill to establish State Police,the bill to establish State Judicial Council, the bill to establish Streamline the procedure for removing Presiding Officers of State Houses of Assembly and the bill to establish Institutionalise Legislative Bureaucracy in the Constitution.
These demands were contained in a letter from the Conference of Speakers to the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitutional Review.
He says,the 44 bills were passed by the Senate and House of Representatives on 1 March and transmitted to the State Houses of Assembly.
Only the 44 bills were passed out of 68 considered by the lawmakers in the constitution amendment.
Dargic news reported the voting process of the constitution amendment and how the lawmakers voted on each bill.
We also reported how the lawmakers rejected all the five gender bills that sought to promote more opportunities for women in political parties, governance and the society at large – triggering protests from over 200 women groups across the country.
The federal legislature also voted to deny citizenship to the foreign-born husbands of a Nigerian women and the ability to take indigeneship of their husbands’ states after five years of being together.
According to Omo-Agege who chairs the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review, described the refusal of the state assemblies to vote on the bills as disheartening and worrisome.
While he said the National Assembly is not averse to acting on any proposed bill appropriately tabled before it, the lawmaker said it is legally inappropriate for the Conference of Speakers to use the four bills as a quid pro quo to act on the 44 bills.
He also accused some state governors of interfering in the affairs of State Houses of Assembly and turning some of its lawmakers to puppets for their selfish gains.
He says,It is clear that this letter is not in keeping with the obligation of the Constitution,but they are aware of the undue interference with legislative processes and the political capture of some State Houses of Assembly by some state governors.
“No doubt, some state governors have worked tirelessly to turn the Conference of Speakers and some State Assemblies into political puppets, thereby undermining and delegitimising the legislative institution at the state level.
This interference has been ramped up, especially in opposition to the Bills granting financial and administrative autonomy to Local Governments,” Mr Omo-Agege said.
He says National Assembly will ignore any attempt by some governors to truncate a cost…
