Harmonized Constitution Amendments: Highlights

EMMA OKWUAHABA



The two chambers of the National Assembly have finally passed the harmonised version of the bill for the amendment of some sections of the 1999 Constitution. Known as the “Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and for Other Matters Connected Thereto 2010,” the bill has now been forwarded to the 36 State Houses of Assembly in the country for ratification.

Qualifications for Elections
Membership of National Assembly and Right of Attendance
Section 65 Sub Section 2 (a) and (b) is amended to read:
A person shall be qualified for election under subsection (1) of this section if –
(a) he has been educated up to at least school certificate diploma level or its equivalent and obtained the relevant certificates, or has served as a member of the National Assembly; and
(b) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party or he is an independent candidate.
Section 66 Sub Section 1 (h) concerning disqualification due to indictment by panels or commissions of inquiry is deleted.
Section 68 Sub Section 1 (g), which provides that members defecting to new political parties should vacate their seats, is also deleted.

House of Assembly of a State
The relevant sections of Part 2 of the constitutions are to be amended as in the case of National Assembly members. So, sections 106, 107 and 109 are amended as above.

The President of the Federation
Section 131 is amended to read:
A Person shall be qualified for election to the office of President if-
(a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;
(b) he has attained the age of forty years;
(c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party or he is an independent candidate; and
(d) he has been educated up to at least school Certificate tertiary level or its equivalent and obtained the relevant certificates.
Section 137 Sub Section 1 (i) concerning disqualification due to indictments by panels or commissions is deleted.

Elections
Time of election to the National Assembly
Section 76 Sub Section 2 amended to read:
The date mentioned in subsection (I) of this section shall not be earlier than sixty days before and one hundred and fifty days and not later than the date on which the one hundred and twenty days before the date on which the House stands dissolved, or where the election is to fill a vacancy occurring more than ninety days before such date, not later than thirty days after the vacancy occurred.

 Time of elections to House of Assembly
Section 116 Sub Section 2 is also amended as above.

Election of the President
Section 132 Sub Section (2) amended as above.

Governor
Section 177 is amended to read:
A Person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if-
(c) he is a member of Political Party and is sponsored by that Political Party or he is an independent candidate, and
(d) he has been educated up to School Certificate tertiary level or its equivalent and obtained the relevant certificates.
Section 178 Sub Section 2 on date of election is also amended as in the case of President and other officials.

Tenure of Office

Tenure of Office of President
A new sub section is to be added to Section 135 as Sub Section 2 (c). It provides that: in the determination of the four year term, where a re-run election has taken place and the person earlier sworn in wins the re-run election, the time spent in the office before the date the election was annulled, shall be taken into account.
Governor
A new sub section to be cited as Section 180 Sub Section 2 (c) is also added as above on the tenure of a state Governor.

Recall
The recall of national assembly members is made a bit more difficult with a new requirement. So, Section 69 is amended to read that:
A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives may be recalled as such a member if –
(a) there is presented to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission a petition in that behalf signed by more than one half of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member and which signatures are duly verified by the Independent National Electoral Commission;
The same provision is made for the recall of a member of a State House of Assembly in Section 110.

Acting President during temporary absence of President
Section 145 is amended as follows:

(1) Whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, the Vice President shall perform the functions of the President as Acting President.
(2) In the event that the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of the office of the President, as Acting President, until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, that he is now available to resume his functions as President.

Acting Governor during temporary absence of Governor
Section 190 is amended as in Section 145 above.
Remuneration, etc of the President and certain other officers
A new Sub Section is added to Section 84 as Sub Section 8 to make INEC financially independent of the Presidency. The new section provides that:
The recurrent expenditure of the Independent National Electoral Commission shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
Authorisation of expenditure from the consolidated Revenue fund is also amended to free the national assembly and INEC from the Executive arm. So, section 81 Sub Section 3 is amended as follows:

The amount standing to the credit of the-
(a) INEC,
(b) National Assembly,
(c)  Judiciary;
in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation shall be paid directly to the said bodies respectively; in the case of the Judiciary, such amount shall be paid to the National Judicial Council for disbursement to the heads of the courts established for the federation and the States under section 6 of this Constitution.

Prohibition of Political activities by certain associations
Section 221 Sub Section 1 is amended to allow independent candidates canvass for votes.
Sections 222 to 227 are also deleted to accommodate independent candidacy.

Powers of the National Assembly with respect to political parties
Section 228 is amended extensively to empower the National Assembly to make laws that would protect and promote internal democracy in political parties. The amended parts read:
The National Assembly may by law provide –

(a) For guidelines and rules to ensure internal democracy within political parties, including making laws for the conduct of party primaries, party congresses and party conventions.
(b) For the conferment on the Independent National Electoral Commission of powers as may appear to the National Assembly to be necessary or desirable for the purpose of enabling the Commission more effectively to ensure that political parties observe the  practices of internal democracy, including the fair and transparent conduct of party primaries, party congresses and party conventions.

Election Petitions
There are extensive amendments to relevant sections of the constitution on original and appellate jurisdictions in the hearing of election petitions and matters concerning election and tenure of President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor to remove inherent ambiguities. Sections 233, 239, 251, 272 and 285 are amended accordingly.

Independent Candidate
A new sub section is added to Section 318 to interpret Independent Candidate. It reads:
“Independent Candidate” means a person seeking elective office and who is not sponsored by any political party and satisfies the requirements of the Constitution, Electoral Act, and any other law made by the National Assembly.

INEC
Section 156 Sub Section 1 (a) is amended to exclude partisan politicians from consideration as INEC officials.
Section 160 Sub Section 1 also empowers INEC to make its own rules without inputs from the President. The amended sub section reads:
Subject to subsection (2) of this   section, any of the bodies may, with the approval of the President, by rules or otherwise regulate its own procedure or confer powers and impose duties on any officer or authority for the purpose of discharging its functions, provided that in the case of the Independent National Electoral Commission, its powers to make its own rules or otherwise regulate its own procedure shall not be subject to the approval or control of the President.
Provisions in Part I of the Third Schedule concerning the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) are extensively amended.
The entry ages of INEC chairman and national commissioners are reviewed in Paragraph 14 (2b) which now reads:
A member of the Commission shall-
be not be less than forty years of age in the case of the Chairman, and not less than thirty five years of age in the case of the

National Commissioners.
The ages of resident electoral commissioners are also reviewed downwards from “not less than 40” to “not less than 35 years of age.”

Paragraph 15 is expanded to give INEC powers to monitor internal democracy in political parties. It now reads:
The Commission shall have power to- (c) monitor the organization and operation of the political parties, including their finances, conventions, congresses and party primaries.