TheCable

On Wednesday, the federal house of representatives will start voting on new amendments proposed to the 1999 constitution.

The senate and the house of representatives have jointly proposed about 70 new clauses to be added to the constitution.

Making the announcement on Tuesday during plenary to prepare members for the exercise, Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of the house, advised various caucus leaders to mobilise their members for the voting.

The senate will also vote to pass the amendments in compliance with Section 9 of the constitution.

The recommendations earlier passed by the house of representatives include the removal of immunity (against criminal prosecution) for the president and governors, the rejection of state police and the approval of independent candidature during elections.

The house also approved to split the offices of the minister of justice and the attorney-general of the federation, and placed the office of the auditor-general of the federation on first line charge of the consolidated revenue fund of the federation.

Section 9 of the constitution stipulates that two-thirds of all members of each arm of the national assembly must vote to endorse a proposal before it can pass an amendment to the constitution.

This means every proposal must be endorsed by 240 out of the 360 members of the house of representatives before it can be included in the new constitution.

In the same vein, 73 out of 109 senators must vote to endorse all new proposals to the constitution.

Furthermore, the amendments passed by the national assembly must be ratified by two-thirds (24) out of the 36 state houses of assembly to complete the amendment process.