As the Senate
votes today to adopt the amendments of some sections of the 1999
Constitution, some of the recommendations of the review committee may
not get the required support.

Following the
submission of the draft Constitution, with special interest on
electoral reform, by the Senate Constitution Review Committee last
week, the Senate had gone on to consider clause by clause, the
alterations being sought, as recommended by its review committee, and
slated voting on the alterations for today.

However, the
recommendation by the review committee to delete section 68 (g) from
the 1999 constitution did not enjoy popular support from the Senators.
The section prohibits lawmakers from changing parties unless there is a
division in the party platform on which they were elected.

Contentious section

A sizable number
of senators, enough to deny the clause the required two-third majority
needed to pass it, opposed the recommendation by the review committee
to delete the section, saying it will discourage politics of ideology.

Ike Ekweremadu,
the deputy Senate president who led the review committee however argued
that the provision was necessary because it was infringing on
politicians’ right to free association.

He said the
section was deleted to allow for “liberalization of the political space
and maintaining the fundamental human right to freedom of association,”
adding that since the amended constitution will allow for independent
candidates, it was only fair that every other restriction should be
removed.

Olorunnimbe Mamora
(AC Lagos state) and the rest of his colleagues that argued against the
deletion of the restricting section said it was immoral for politicians
to cross carpet and that there is no freedom without restrictions.

“No freedom is absolute,” Mr. Mamora observed.

Another amendment
which will not likely get the consent of the 73 senators required to
pass it is the upgrade of the educational qualification needed by
politicians aspiring to run for elected positions.

The review
committee recommended that one of the qualifications for election
should be that the aspirant must have received tertiary education and
obtain the relevant certificates. The recommendation was also opposed
by some senators, although they were less in number than those opposed
to the scrapping of section 68 (g).

This will sail through

An insertion of
two clauses in section 228 to enable the National Assembly make laws
that will regulate how political parties practice internal democracy
was widely cheered by the People’s Democratic Party senators, and is
one recommendation that is sure to get the highest number of “yes”
votes.

“The National
Assembly may by law provide for guidelines and rules to ensure internal
democracy within political parties, including making laws for the
conduct of party primaries, and party conventions,” the draft reads.

The section also
includes the power for the National Assembly to confer on the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), when necessary, the
powers to ensure that the political parties observe internal democracy.

An insertion to
account for every day a governor or president whose election was
annulled but who eventually wins the re-run election spends before the
re-run election, was also very popular with the senators.

“In the
calculation of the four year term, where a re-election has taken place
and the person earlier sworn in wins, the time spent in the office
before the date the election was annulled, shall be taken into
account,” the clause reads.

Other
recommendations that are likely to be passed include clauses which make
the Independent National Electoral Commission and its chairman above
the authority of the president or any other body, and those that will
make the commission, the National Assembly and the Judiciary
financially independent of the executive.

The independent
candidacy clauses and the recommendations to conduct election within 30
days and not earlier than 150 days before swearing in and not later
than 90 days before the swearing in date will be passed as well.

“We now throw the balls back to the people of Nigeria,” Ayogu Eze, the Senate spokesman said in an interview after the plenary.

The votes will be cast electronically and each senator will vote 39 times on the 39 sections up for amendment.