Senate asks GEJ to return original of constitution

‎The senate has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to return the original copy of the 2015 constitution amendment bill sent to him for assent.

President Jonathan had declined to sign the bill, citing discrepancies in it.

In a letter to the national assembly, read on the floor of the senate by David Mark, senate president, on Wednesday, Jonathan had argued that‎ the national assembly did not have the required four-fifth quorum to pass the bill.

He also cited, “flagrant violation of the doctrine of separation of powers,” and‎ “unjustified whittling down of the executive powers of the federation vested in the president by virtue of Section 5(1) of the 1999 constitution‎” as his reasons for not signing the bill.

Reacting to the development, Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, and chairman of the senate committee on constitution review, moved a motion on Thursday urging the senate to direct the president to return the original copy of the 2015 constitution amendment bill with the signature page intact.

Ekweremadu’s motion was against the president’s position that the national assembly did not have the required quorum to pass the bill.

“The president said he was returning the bill with a letter attached to it, but unfortunately the bill was not returned with the letter,” he said.

“So, I move that the senate president asks the president to return the original copy of bil‎l.”

Ekweremadu, who chaired the committee that reviewed the constitution, is insisting that the required quorum at the national assembly passes the bill‎, hence his motion asking the president to return the original copy of the bill with the signature page intact.

‎The senate subsequently agreed to ask the president to return the original copy of the 2015 constitution amendment bill.

The amendment bill makes provision for independent candidacy, as well as strips the president of the power to assent to amendments to the constitution.