NASS STOPS PRESIDENTS FROM ASSENTING NEW CONSTITUTION

• Separates the office of the Attorney General from the Justice Min
THE Senate, on Wednesday, passed the constitution amendment bill into law, marking the fourth time the 1999 Constitution is being amended.
The senators, in the process, amended Section 9 of the Constitution, to ensure that once the amendment bill scales the huddle in the state assemblies, a siting president does not need to assent to it.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is also the chairman, Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment, said this would be the last time any sitting president would sign the constitution, as Section 9 had been amended.
Also on Wednesday, it emerged that 20 states rejected the bid by the National Assembly to make local governments autonomous.
The report of the committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, submitted by Ekweremadu, indicated that 20 state assemblies voted against local government autonomy, while 16 voted in support.
States that voted against the autonomy were Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
Adamawa, Anambra, Abia, Bauchi, Benue, Edo, Gonbe, Imo, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto states, however, voted in support.
The lawmakers had proposed an amendment which indicated that “a local government council not democratically elected shall not be recognised by all authorities and persons and shall not be entitled to any revenue allocation from the Federation Account or the state government, nor exercise any function exercisable by a local government council under this constitution or any law for the time being in force; and
“Shall stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years, commencing from the date the members of the Council were sworn in...”
In the new amendment, the National Assembly also empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political parties.
Besides, the National Assembly also approved the provision for independent candidates in elections.
Section 177 was altered, by inserting a new paragraph “(d) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party or he is an independent candidate.”
The new constitution also stipulated the timeline within which every pre-election matter shall be filed, which is not later than seven days from the date of the occurrence of the event, decision or action complained of in the suit.
The amendment also separated the office of the Attorney General of the Federation from the Justice Minister.
In a similar vein, the office of the Accountant General of the Federation has been separated from the office of the Accountant General of the Federal Government.
The Accountant-General of the Federation shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation of National Economic Council, subject to confirmation by the Senate; and shall be responsible for the administration and disbursement of allocations from the Federation Account to the tiers of government.
The two offices have a four-year non-renewable tenure.
The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation shall, however, be funded from the Federation Account, pursuant to an Act of the National Assembly.
Source: Tribune