Constitution Amendment: Delegates Back Plan To Empower Jonathan

Delegates at the National Conference have supported a proposed amendment to the constitution, which will enable the President to initiate the process of amending the constitution.

Delegates, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH in Abuja on Friday, said that the power to amend the constitution should not solely reside in the National Assembly.

The Senate will on Wednesday vote on proposed amendments to the 1999 constitution.

Among the proposed amendments is a planned alteration to Section 9 of the constitution which deals with how a new constitution could be processed.

The Chairman of the Senate Constitution Review Committee, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, while presenting the report of the committee on Wednesday, had said the alteration being proposed to Section 9 “is to make provision for the President, in addition to the National Assembly, to initiate the process of a new constitution.”

The proposed amendment had, on Wednesday, divided the Senate with some senators saying that it should be rejected, while others defended it.

Senators, who rejected it, including Kabiru Marafa (APC Zamfara), had said that the alteration would automatically provide an avenue for President Goodluck Jonathan to give credibility to the National Conference.

But Senator James Manager (PDP Delta) disagreed with those who opposed the amendment.

Manager had said, “An officer of the rank of the President can also initiate the process of a new constitution by writing to the National Assembly, presenting it as if it is an executive bill.”

Supporting the amendment, a delegate from Delta State and former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Paul Enebeli, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said, “We should stop suspecting the President in whatever he does. He is our President and we should respect him.”

He said that the National Conference was made up of credible Nigerians, adding that the outcome of the conference should be included in the constitution.

Another delegate, Prof. Isaac Albert, said that it would be wrong for anyone to assume that the calibre of people at the conference could not write a new constitution for the country.

He said, “We are men and women of honour. We are credible and all of us have the interest of the country at heart.

“The President means well for the country and we should not have the impression that whatever he does now, is for himself alone because he won’t be in office forever.”

On his part, the spokesperson for the Afenifere Renewal Group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said the lawmakers were only afraid of losing the powers they did not have.

According to him, it is not the function of the lawmakers to write a new constitution for the people, noting that they could only amend the constitution based on the will of the people.

He said, “The National Assembly should shed their arrogance and understand their functions. They are not elected to write constitutions; they are elected as lawmakers. Their power is lawmaking. They can’t write a new constitution because they are not a constituent assembly.

“Lawmaking does not include writing a constitution. Why are they afraid of losing the power they do not have? It is not the business of legislators to make constitutions. They can amend the constitution brought to them by the people. They are not ‘we the people’; they are agents of the people. They should get this clear.”

Another delegate, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), said the time had come for a new constitution to be written for Nigeria.

According to him, the senate cannot continue to amend an illegal document.

He said, “The present constitution is Decree 24 of 1999 signed into law by a former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, aided by members of his Provisional Ruling Council.

“There is no number of amendments that can cure a militarily-imposed constitution. The present constitution is not home-grown because it does not derive from the people.

Ozekhome argued that the National Conference provided an opportunity for Nigeria to make a new constitution because the National Assembly cannot inject the decision of the conference into an illegal constitution.

“A new constitution must come out. Under Section 9 of the constitution, the National Assembly can only amend an existing constitution. It cannot make a new constitution. It is the constituent assembly like this conference that can make a new constitution. It is the constitution that makes the National Assembly. The job of the National Assembly is to carry our decision to the people for a popular referendum or plebiscite,” he maintained.

Also, a leading constitutional lawyer and delegate at the National Conference, Chief Mike Ahamba, (SAN), said that the President already had the powers to send bills to the legislative arm of government.

According to him, it is the content of such a bill that will determine how Nigerians react to it.

Speaking to one of our correspondents on the telephone, Ahamba said, “The President has the power to forward a bill that will enable the same power bestowed on the people by the constitution to be exercised by him because there is no provision of any modality for the exercise of that sovereign power.

“Consequently, the issue will be the content of the bill, not whether the President sent the bill because the President has the power to send a bill like any other person.

“It is only when the President sends the bill that we can know whether all the sections can be taken or not.

“It is only when we see the content of the bill sent by the President that we can condemn or applaud it.”

But another constitutional lawyer, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, who is challenging the constitutionality of the National Conference in court, described the development (the proposed amendment) as an afterthought aimed at legitimising the President’s decision to convene the confab in the absence of an authorising legislation.

In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, Abayomi said, “The emphasis I am making is that the President’s actions must be backed by law as a precondition.

“What the Senate is embarking upon is to establish conditions subsequently.

“Every executive action, except those specifically precluded by the constitution, must find backing in the constitution.

“The constitution only requires the President to execute the laws and the constitution – if now they are realising the wrong that the President has embarked upon and they are embarking on a rehabilitation– they are free to do so.

“They can amend the constitution in order to rehabilitate the President and give him a legitimate excuse for the National Conference. I have no problem with that.”

Source: Legit.ng