TheCable

Ojema Ojotu, a member of the house of representatives, is proposing a bill to include power rotation in the constitution for all elections. 

Ojotu is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing Apa/Agatu federal constituency of Benue state.

The bill, which is yet to be listed for first reading, proposes to amend sections 133, 179, 48, and 49 of the constitution to rotate the office of the president among the six geopolitical zones, with each state holding the presidency for a maximum of two terms.

The proposed legislation aims to prevent the geopolitical zones that have previously produced presidents since May 1999 from doing so again, until all other zones have had the opportunity to produce a president.

The north-east, north-central, and south-east geopolitical zones have not produced presidents since 1999.

The draft bill also seeks to rotate the office of the governor among the three senatorial zones within a state, as well as senatorial elections among all federal constituencies within a senatorial zone.

It also seeks to prohibit a LGA from producing a member of the house of representatives for the second time of asking, until all LGAs within the federal constituency have had their turns.

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS 

The bill proposes to add subsections 2, 3 and 4 to section 133 to read thus; “(2) The office of the President of Nigeria shall revolve around the six Geopolitical Zones, with each State holding the office for a maximum of two terms of four years each, to give every section and State in Nigeria a sense of inclusion, participation and representation in Nigeria’s democracy.

“(3) Any zone in Nigeria which has produced a President of the Federal Republic shall not be eligible to produce another President until the other Zones take their turns.

“(4) the effective date for consideration in the rotation of power shall be 29th of May, 1999 when the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) became effective.

Subsections 6 and 7 is being proposed to amend section 179 to read as follows; “(6) The office of the Governor of a State in Nigeria shall revolve round all the three Senatorial Zones in the State, to give every indigene of the State a sense of inclusion, participation and representation in the development of the State.

“(7) every Senatorial Zone in a State which has produced Governor of that State in a democratically conducted election shall not be eligible to produce a Governor, unless and until other Senatorial Zones produce Governors of the State.

The amendment to section 48 is to add subsections (1) (a) (b) to read thus; “(1) (a) Senatorial election shall rotate round all the Federal Constituencies in the Senatorial Zone to give a sense of inclusion, participation and representation in the Constituencies to engineer social progress and development.

“(b) every Federal Constituency in a Senatorial District which has produced a Senator shall not be eligible to produce a Senator, unless and until all other Federal Constituencies produce a Senator.

Also, two subsections (1)(a) (b) is being proposed to alter section 49 to state that “(1) a. every Local Government which has produced a Member of House of Representatives shall not be eligible to produce a Member of House of Representatives upon cessation of tenure, unless and until all Local Governments in the Federal Constituency produces a Member of House of Representatives.

“(b) provided the occupant of an office in (b) above shall have served a full term of four years or any number of terms that Electorates validated through an election.”

If the bill is presented before the house, it has to pass through several legislative hurdles, including obtaining the approvals of the state houses of assemblies and presidential assent before it can become law.

A similar bill was thrown out in the 9th assembly.