Emergency Powers: National Assembly Reduces Jonathan's Powers
The National Assembly yesterday curbed the sweeping powers conferred on President Goodluck Jonathan by the emergency rule proclamation instruments, restricting him to exercising control on security matters only.
Federal Government official gazettes submitted to the lawmakers had given the president wide-ranging powers on the emergency states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, including powers to issue orders to the governors as well as to utilise their funds.
When the Senate and the House of Representatives first debated the emergency proclamation behind closed doors on Tuesday, they placed conditions and set up committees to harmonise their positions. Yesterday, the two chambers received and adopted a harmonised version of their resolutions, limiting President Jonathan’s emergency powers in the three states to be on matters of security.
In the harmonised report, an amended clause now says: “The President may give directions to a state governor or local government chairman directly or through his designate or a duly authorised person with respect to the administration of the emergency area, in matters of public order, peace and security only.”
Also, the Senate and the House said powers of the president over funds of the emergency states should only be to “provide for the protection, documentation, return, re-integration, resettlement, rehabilitation, compensation and remuneration of persons affected by this order.” The two chambers further introduced a new clause in the gazette saying the president shall have powers to “provide for payment of compensation to victims of terrorism on or before emergency proclamation.” Speaking soon after the House adopted the harmonised report, deputy spokesman Rep Victor Ogene said the lawmakers’ decision was to protect democratic tenets and accountability.
“Clause 3 (2E) page 7 of the gazetted declaration submitted by the executive talks about utilisation of funds of any state of local government in emergency areas. But we are not comfortable with the clause because we feel funds coming to the state and local governments should not be used for emergency, there is the tendency for anyone to want to prolong the time of emergency,” he said.
Constitutional lawyer Professor Auwalu Yadudu said the National Assembly was right to have curbed the powers that President Jonathan sought under emergency rule. “It is difficult to find any support in the constitution for the president to exercise the powers he now wants to claim under the gazette,” he said.
“The powers of the executive governors of the states are clearly defined whether in relation to appointments or spending of money and those powers are subject to the authority of the states Houses of Assembly. If the House of Assembly of a state exists and it has appropriated funds, I do not see the president tempering with that or modifying that or even questioning that.
The constitution does not give him such powers and you cannot under the guise of emergency powers exercise any such powers.” He added: “So if the National Assembly seeks to revise that or nullify that or if they stipulate conditions for improving the state of emergency, they will he right in doing that. I think it will be political inter-meddling by the president in a manner that he lacks any constitutional basis, even to do such a political meddling.”
But a senior Kaduna-based lawyer, Barrister Aliyu Umar, said the National Assembly lacked the constitutional power to amend the emergency gazettes presented by the president. “The legislators are empowered constitutionally to either approve or disapprove the emergency and not to amend or change the gazette. If they find anything wrong in the gazette, they are to disapprove it and not to change or amend the nature of the declaration,” he said.
For his part, Barrister Yahaya Mahmood (SAN), said the legislators amended the gazettes probably because they know the financial status of the affected states. “The National Assembly knows how much it appropriates for security in the current budget. It also knows the meagre resources of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
That may be why the National Assembly amended the proclamation to stipulate that the Federal Government not the states should finance the operation,” Mahmood said. Yesterday, the president’s adviser on National Assembly matters, Senator Joy Emordi, commended the lawmakers for the unanimous approval of the emergency proclamation.
She said senators and House of Representatives members have demonstrated that national interest must at all times be placed above partisan and sectional considerations. Meanwhile, speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said the House would closely monitor the implementation of the emergency rule to ensure troops adhere to the rules of engagement.
Tambuwal gave the assurance while hosting a delegation of the N-Katalyst Forum, a non-partisan group of professionals committed to the enthronement of good governance and political justice in Nigeria. He said the House had directed its committees to keep a close tab on the military operations going on in the three states, and that it will invite the Chief of Defence Staff to brief the lawmakers on a monthly basis.
“Nigeria was not at war but was only witnessing a breakdown of law and order in some of its component states. Even with the level of insecurity in the emergency areas, there was need for the military to abide by the rules of engagement,” Tambuwal said.
The group led by Dr. Jibril Ibrahim said their visit was to solicit the support of the House in prevailing on the Federal Government to respect human rights in the course of combating the insurgency in the emergency areas.
Source: Legit.ng
