TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has withheld assent to five bills on constitution amendment passed by the national assembly.

The president communicated his decision to reject the bills via a letter which was read during house of representatives plenary on Tuesday.

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house, listed the bills as constitutional amendment bills nos eight, 15, 22, 24 and 28 on the issue of constitution amendment.

He quoted the president as saying the bill number No. 8 was rejected as its section seven may need to be redrafted “to clearly indicate that it is section 109 (1)(e) of the legislative service commission in the 1999 constitution that is being amended.

“Also, there are existing laws that cater for legislative service commissions.”

On the bill no. 15, the president said its section 5(3) should also be amended to reflect the “marginal note of section 214 of the 1999 constitution.”

He further said for the bill no. 22, some of the functions proposed to be undertaken by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) are currently the responsibility of other agencies of government.

“Furthermore, imbedding these functions in the constitution may impair future efforts to change the role of the corps to meet new and emerging challenges,” Buhari added in the letter.

The president said the bill no. 24 “appears not to take full cognisance of the provisions of section 9(3) of the 1999 constitution.”

Regarding the bill no. 28, he said its sections 2(b) and 3(b) “appear not to take full cognisance of the provisions of Section 58(4)of the 1999 constitution.”

This is coming less than two weeks after the president returned four bills passed by the national assembly.

The house of representatives recently reintroduced 11 bills Buhari withheld assent to, for the purpose of overriding his veto power on them.