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Not often are they called upon to
deliberate on matters of much significance to the country. Now,
legislators in the 36 states have found themselves in the sun. They
have to agree to the amendment of the 1999 constitution recently sent
to them by the National Assembly and they are making the best of the
opportunity.

Some have quickly assented to the
changes. Others are digging in their heels and subjecting the document
to a thorough debate. According to the law, any part of the
constitution can be amended if 2/3 of the country’s state legislatures
say so. A state may, therefore, reject a part of the proposed amendment
but may not get the necessary support from other states to stop the
change being made.

On the whole, the amendment bill has met uneven reception. Below is the status of the bill in some state legislatures.

Ondo

Over 500 memoranda on the bill were
presented at the public hearing and the process is still on. At the
public hearing, issues on the financial autonomy of the national and
state assemblies, age and qualification of contestants for elective
positions and cross-carpeting of politicians from one political party
to the other, were treated. The Speaker of the Assembly, Samuel
Adesina, said only contentious issues out of the 506 memorandum
received from the public would be considered.

Kebbi

The House of Assembly has constituted a
five-member committee to recommend areas to be reviewed in the
harmonised draft bill on the amendment of the 1999 Constitution. The
Speaker, Aminu Musa, while inaugurating the committee last Wednesday
called on members to hasten action, with a view to making meaningful
contributions in the ongoing constitution review.

Yobe

The Yobe State House of Assembly
rejected the proposed amendment of section 65 of the constitution,
which deals with the minimum educational qualification for election
into the assemblies. The assembly voted against the proposal at a
special sitting in Damaturu, saying the review would not solve the
problems associated with elections in Nigeria.

Sirajo Wakil, the Deputy Majority Leader of the assembly, said its position was based on the views of the people.

“Our argument on section 65 which deals
with qualification is that the amended section failed to give fair and
level playing ground to Nigerians,” he said.

Lagos

The National Assembly’s proposed
amendment of the 1999 Constitution was not well received at a public
hearing organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday June
20, 2010. The general response from participants was that “the
amendment does not meet the yearnings of Nigerians.”

Gombe

In Gombe, the assembly on Wednesday
also announced its objection to the proposal to raise the academic
qualification of political aspirants from the secondary school
certificates to a college diploma.

The assembly approved 27 proposed amendments and rejected 21.

The Speaker, Manga Bojude, said among
the rejected amendments were the sections dealing with the educational
qualification of candidates and section 106, which provides for
independent candidates in elections. The House also rejected section
190, which empowers the vice-president or deputy governor to act on
behalf of the president or governor after any leave that is beyond 21
working days.

The removal of section 66 of the
constitution, which empowers state governors to form disciplinary
committees to handle cases of misconduct against political office
holders was also rejected.

Adamawa

The Adamawa State Assembly adopted the
amendment bill, but rejected financial autonomy contained in the bill.
The lawmakers, in their sitting on Wednesday, voted 10 against six and
nine against eight respectively to reject the alteration of section 81
and section 121 respectively that guaranteed financial autonomy to
INEC, legislatures and judiciaries at the national and state levels.

It also unanimously rejected the
provisions for independent candidacy and the pegging of diploma as
minimum qualification for candidates seeking elective offices.

Edo

The Edo House of Assembly also on
Wednesday rejected 14 of the 41 sections of the Constitution as amended
by the National Assembly. It rejected the amendment to the Sixth
Schedule of the Constitution but supported a proposal which would make
it legal for a serving legislator to move from the political party on
which he was elected to another political party without forfeiting his
seat. The proposal by the National Assembly to transfer Sections 221 to
227 to the Electoral Act was also upheld by the legislators.

Ekiti

Most members of the Ekiti House of
Assembly on Tuesday described the content of the amendment bill as
fraudulent. Sections 65 (A) and 68 (1) G concerning upward review of
qualification of persons that could contest elective positions as well
as cross-carpeting were some of the contentious issues. Lawmakers also
opposed cross-carpeting and voted against it. Some argued that
approving such an amendment was capable of turning Nigeria into a one
party state.

Plateau

The Plateau House of Assembly is still
planning to convene a stakeholders’ meeting to deliberate on the
harmonised copy of the amended constitution.

“We have received a copy of the harmonised version of the amended
constitution and shall have a public hearing to make inputs into the
document,’’ the Speaker, Istifanus Mwansat, said at plenary on Monday
in Jos.