Constitution Amendment: Nigerian Senate Set to Strip President Buhari of 'Power of Assent'

Nigerian Senate through the ongoing constitution amendment, may strip President Muhammadu Buhari of powers to assent as the senate committee is also set to introduce a fresh amendment that would guarantee the decentralization of the Nigerian police.

Deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu

 

While speaking at a retreat by the Senate committee on constitution review, which was held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos over the past weekend, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, revealed plans to strip President Muhammadu Buhari of powers to assent the ongo­ing constitution amendment.

 

Ekweremadu added that since former President Goodluck Jona­than did not sign the Fourth Alteration Bill into law, which strips the president of powers to veto any bill, it will be reconsidered with fresh inputs.

“A bill to amend any portion of the con­stitution is not an ordinary bill. It is the only bill that requires the two-thirds majority of each Chamber of the National Assembly to pass in the first instance. It is also the only bill that requires the approval of two-thirds of the States Assembly to pass.

“Presidential veto of a bill to amend the consti­tution makes jest of the philosophy of sovereignty, which is that power belongs to the people, and that the people exercise this sovereignty through their representatives in parliament.

“Nigerians have argued, and rightly so, that the Constitution would have made explicit prescrip­tions on how such veto could be reversed, if it were the expectation of the framers of the Constitu­tion for one man or woman to veto a constitution amendment,” he said.