Constitution Review: House Divided over Tenure of Acting President

Onwuka Nzeshi

The much awaited debate on the review of the 1999 Constitution  kicked off  on a stormy note yesterday  at the House of Representatives as lawmakers were sharply divided over the tenure of an Acting President and the appointment of the Chairman and Commi-ssioners of the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) by the President.
The day’s proceedings  which  began   at about 2.40 pm witnessed an early break occasioned by a closed door session which lasted for about one hour. The consideration of the Report of the Special Ad-hoc Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution  effectively kicked off at 4.06 pm when the House dissolved into the Committee of the Whole.

The first signs of division among the lawmakers came during the consideration of Section 145, the controversial section that deals with succession  to the Office of the President. Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Hon. Bala Ibn NaÁllah, expressed discomfort with the new couching of the clause with the word Shall which makes it mandatory for the President, Governor or Local Government Chairman to transmit a letter informing the parliament of his leave or medical vacation within 21 days.
Na’ Allah argued that the provision needed to be looked into again because there could be situations when the President may not be in a position to transmit that letter.  But the Chairman, House Committee on Police Affairs, Hon Abdul Ningi, countered this position and insisted that given the history of the amendment of this particular clause, the three weeks provided was good enough  and anyone aspiring to be President, Governor or Local Govern-ment Chairman need to be prepared to transmit letter of vacation within the stipulated time, failing which his deputy will step in as Acting President.
Action Congress Leader  and Minority Whip, Hon. Gbajabiamila, observed that the House needed to re-examine  the concept of Acting President as presently practiced in Nigeria.

According to him, it will be a constitutional anomaly for an Acting President to remain in such a capacity in perpetuity while the person for whom he was made Acting President remains on vacation ad infinitum. He argued that it will be better to set a time frame within which a person can function in acting capacity. However, other contributors to the debate differed as they argued that the issue be left as it is in the draft amendment.
However the real storm came when the issue of the appointment of the Chairman of the Independent National electoral commission (INEC) came up for review.  Gbajabiamila   narrowly escaped suspension from the  legislative chamber when he took on the leadership of the House  on its  seeming silence over the vexed issue of who should appoint the Chairman  and other Commissioners of INEC. Gbajabiamila  argued given the controversy generated by the issue in the public domain and the need to restore public confidence in the electoral system, the House needed to take a stand on the issue.

According to him, silence on such an issue will  seem to confirm the public perception that  the House was not in tune with the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian people on the issue of conducting transparent and credible elections.
“We cannot keep quite over such a sensitive issue otherwise it will amount to a confirmation of the public view that while the rest of the country is going in one direction, the leadership of the House appear to be driving us towards another direction,” he said.
This remark sparked off a series of angry reactions from across the chambers. Deputy Speaker, Honourable Usman Nafada expressed disgust at what he termed an attack on the leadership of the House, while a number of other lawmakers murmured in reaction to Gbajabiamila’s remarks.   Proceedings was stalled for some twenty minutes as some lawmakers protested and demanded an open apology from Gbajabiamila. Although, Minority leader of the House Honourable Mohammed Ndume; Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa  and Honourable Abdul Ningi tendered   apologies  on Gbajabiamila’s  behalf, the aggrieved lawmakers would accept none of those apologies. Even when Gbajabiamila rose  to announce the withdrawal of his statement, it did not go down well with the protesters, apparently because of his insistence that he spoke frankly in the interest of  the House of Representatives and the nation.

The consideration of the Constitutional Amendments continues today and lawmakers are expected to commence voting on the various clauses.
Meanwhile, the  House of Representatives has given  assurance that the ongoing constitution amendment exercise would eventually dovetail into the  creation of new states in the country.

Deputy Speaker Usam Nafada  stated this while  receiving members of the Movement for the Creation Apa State, from the present Benue State at the National Assembly yesterday in Abuja.
   Nafada in his remarks after receiving the memorandum from the group stated that the House  had earlier  resolved that new states would be created, adding that the   creation of Apa State was  long over due.

Also, the House has  mandated its committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to constitute a joint team which would visit the Polish Ambassador to Nigeria with a view to expressing the House’s commiseration with Poland over the recent death of the country’s president in a plane crash. The resolution was sequel to a motion moved by the Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Uluwole Oke.

Polish President, Mr. Lech Kaczynski, his wife and several key government officials were recently killed in an air crash in Russia. The Movement for the creation of Apa State was  led by the Och’Idoma, His Highness, Elias Ekoyi Obekpa.