Reps Pass 39 Constitution Alteration Bills For Second Reading

In one fell swoop, the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for the second reading, thirty-nine (39) bills seeking the alterations of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The bills segmented into judicial reforms, legislature, inclusive governance, security and policing, electoral matters, among others were passed collectively, following a motion by the House Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere during plenary.

Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu who presided over the plenary, instructed that considering the urgency of passing the bills to the Constitution Review Committee for consideration, the House suspended its rules for the proposed legislations to be passed for second reading at once.

Some of the pieces of legislations that scaled second reading are the bills to provide that general elections to the office of the President, State Governors, National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly and Local Government Area Councils shall be conducted simultaneously on the same date to be determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission in consultation with the National Assembly, and provide for compulsory resignation of national and state executive members of political parties seeking elective government positions.

Also, are the bills to vest INEC with the power to conduct local government area council elections; provide for regulation of election timelines by the Electoral Act; requiring the official resignation from political party before defection by members of the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, and extension of the original jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal to include election petitions arising from governorship and deputy governorship elections, tenure of governors and deputy governors of states.

Bills to grant the National Assembly power to alter timelines for election tribunals; establish the National Local Government Electoral Commission as an independent body responsible for organising, conducting, and supervising elections into the offices of chairmen and councilors of all the local governments across the federation, including the Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory, and relieve the state independent electoral commissions of the powers to conduct local government council elections and bestow same on INEC also scaled the second reading.

Similarly, the Bills to provide for special seats for the physically challenged persons in nigeria’s federal, state and local government areas, and legislative houses; provide for six special seats for special interest groups in the House of Representatives and provide for the establishment of State Police and Local Government Police also passed through the second reading.

Considered are the bills to make provision for the Chief Justice of Nigeria to make Proclamation on the inauguration of National Assembly; establish the FCT House of Assembly; remove Transitional law-making powers from the executive arm of government; and specify the time within which the executive shall present to the National Assembly any treaty between the federation and any other country for enactment.

Others include bills to make the recommendation of the National Judicial Council mandatory for the removal from office of Heads of Nigeria Courts; establish Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja and the Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal of the States; make the Court of Appeal the Final appeal court in Governorship, National and State Houses of Assembly Election petitions, and confer jurisdiction on the Federal High Court to try Offences arising from violations of the provisions of the Electoral Act and any other Related Act of the National Assembly.