Senate approves independent candidacy, restricts tenures of govs, president
The senate has approved a provision in the constitution alteration bill which gives room for candidates to participate in elections without being members of political parties.
Eighty-two senators voted in favour of this, while five rejected it.
The upper legislative chamber also restricted someone who has been sworn in as president or governor to complete the term of the elected president or governor from contesting twice.
The senate approved a provision for the funding of the house of assembly of states directly from the consolidated revenue fund of the state.
The provision reads: “section 121 of the principal act is altered by substituting for subsection (3), a new subsection (3) – ‘(3) any amount standing to the credit of the- house of assembly of the state, and judiciary, in the consolidated revenue fund of the state shall be paid directly to the said bodies respectively; in the case of judiciary, such amount shall be paid directly the heads of the courts concerned.”
The senate also approved the provision which requires the president and governor to submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 30 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the senate or state house of assembly.
Constitution amendments only become operative after they have been passed by at least 24 state houses of assembly and two-thirds of the national assembly.
Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, laid the report of the constitution review committee, which had worked on some sections of the 1999 constitution, last Thursday.
The senate commenced on debate on the report on Tuesday, and voted on its provisions on Wednesday.
TheCable had reported some other provisions in the bill.
Below are the 33 bills they considered and how they voted:
| BILL | YES | NO | REMARK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Members of the Council of States | 95 | NIL | Passed |
| Devolution of Power | 90 | 5 | Not Passed |
| Financial Autonomy of State Legislature | 90 | 5 | Passed |
| Distributable account for LG’s to have their own special account | 84 | 8 | Passed |
| Democratic Existence funding and tenure of LG council | 88 | 7 | Passed |
| State creation and boundary adjustment | 47 | 48 | Not Passed |
| Immunity for legislators for Acts in Course of Duty | 93 | 1 | Passed |
| Political Parties and Electoral Matters : Time to conduct Bye Elections and Power to deregister parties | 90 | 0 | Passed |
| Presidential Assent | 95 | 1 | Passed |
| Time frame for submission of names of ministerial nominees | 75 | 19 | Passed |
| Submission of Ministerial Nominees with their Portfolios | 78 | 16 | Passed |
| 35% affirmative action for women as ministers | 49 | 43 | Not Passed |
| Submission of Commissioners Nominees with their Portfolios | 84 | 7 | Passed |
| Submission of names of office of commissioners shall be attached with portfolio | 87 | 8 | Passed |
| 35% Affirmative action for women as states commissioners | 61 | 35 | NotPassed |
| Authorization of expenditure | 93 | 1 | Passed |
| Appointment of Minister from the FCT | 77 | 12 | Passed |
| Change of names of some LG councils: Ebonyi, Oyo, Ogun, Pleateau and Rivers | 84 | 2 | Passed |
| Independent Candidacy | 82 | 5 | Passed |
| The Nigeria Police Force to become Nigerian Police | 87 | 2 | Passed |
| Restriction of the tenure of President and Governor | 88 | 0 | Passed |
| Separation of Office of the Accountant-General | 89 | 0 | Passed |
| Office of Auditor General to be included in first line chat of consolidated revenue | 95 | 0 | Passed |
| Separation of Office of the Attorney General from the Minister/Commissioner of Justice | 95 | 1 | Passed |
| Submissions from the Judiciary | 95 | 2 | Passed |
| Determination of pre-election matters | 97 | 0 | Passed |
| Consequential Amendment on Civil Defence | 97 | 0 | Passed |
| Citizenship and indigenship | 49 | 46 | Not Passed |
| Procedure for Overriding Presidential Veto in Constitutional Alteration | 87 | 4 | Passed |
| Removal of law making power from Executive Arm | 89 | 3 | Passed |
| Investment and Securities Tribunal | 76 | 14 | Passed |
| Reduction of Age for Election | 86 | 10 | Passed |
| Authorization of expenditure time frame for laying Appropriation bill, Passage etc | 94 | 0 | Passed |
| Deletion of NYSC decree from CFRN | 88 | 33 | Passed |
| Deletion of Public Complain Act from CFRN | 90 | 1 | Passed |
| Deletion of National Security Agencies from the CFRN | 92 | 2 | Passed |
| Deletion of land Use Act from CFRN | 46 | 44 | Not Passed |
| Deletion of State INEC from CFRN | 73 | 19 | Passed |
Your comment..granting immunity to Legislators from prosecution while in office is laughable. Why on earth then is Evans still under police custody.
That was my question when I saw that. I imagined that bills pass by a majority, 90-5 seems like a majority to me. Are we missing something here?