Senate’s Constitutional Amendment Process: An act laden with selfish intent

By Jide Ajani

In what is turning out to be an engagement strewn with self-serving considerations, the process of amending the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Senate, as witnessed last week, is creating disaffection in some quarters.   Specifically, the Sani Yerima propelled shooting down of an amendment to parts of Section 29 regarding renunciation of citizenship, has sent a dangerous signal that some members of the senate want to further endanger the girl-child in an environment that is made unsafe by socio-economic and security challenges.   What were they thinking of?

Last week, Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria chose to walk on blade. And they have fallen off.

As at the time of going to press, the degree of angst against them on social media has reached dizzying heights.   What is the cause of their problem?

They decided to be selfish and incorrigible in the choices they made.

David Mark presiding over Senate plenary

Proceeding with the amendment of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the Senate began its clause by clause voting for the amendment.

The issue that is causing them so much discontent is the non-passage of the amendment proposal to Section 29 (4)b.   The section deals with the renunciation of citizenship.   It provides that for a Nigerian to renounce the country’s citizenship, he or she should not be less than 18 years of age or be an adult.

Section 29 (4) b then goes ahead to state that to be an adult, the person must be married.

The implications of that sub-section is that those girl-children who are under the age of 18 who have been conscripted into marriages across the country would also qualify to be described as adults – because they are married.

This was the vote that was being taken and which the Senate was almost amending with a view to removing the ‘B’ part of sub-section 4, when the former Zamfara State governor, Ahmed Sani Yerima, worked himself into a frenzy.
On the floor of the Senate, he objected to the removal of the clause and also went a step further by piling so much pressure on some of his colleagues not to allow the amendment to pass.

Interestingly, by the time the vote was called, the Senate could not muster the required 73votes to allow the amendment sail through.

And so, Nigeria’s Senate, by implications, told the world that any married girl-child can be categorised as an adult.
Had the amendment sailed through, the direct import would have been that those who relish abusing the girl-child via marriage would no longer have any excuse under the Constitution.

How Yerima, who, only penultimate week, sneaked Islamic clerics from parts of the country to a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, was able to swing the process of voting in his favour remains to be explained.

The Constitution amendment is tagged Fourth Alteration Bill 2013.

But if the way the Senators voted on the renunciation issue creates a discount, the way they voted on other equally important matters smacks of a group of people who placed personal political interests above national consideration and ethos – see box for amendments in brief.

Most of those who voted on some very thorny issues did so because they had their eyes either on the presidency or governorship.   Therefore, what they did was with the mindset of being governors of their states.

The Constitution requires at least two thirds of the total number of Senators for most amendments to sail through – it requires four fifths of the votes for boundary adjustments and state creation.

With the voting by the Senators, if passed by the House of Representatives after the joint conference and subsequently by the State Houses of Assembly, the amendments will become law.   This is because one of the amendments by the Senate is that “any bill passed by the National Assembly becomes a law at the expiration period of 30 days, if the President refuses to assent to it – in line with Clause 6, section 58 as altered in subsection 5A.  This, provided there is a commonality of position when the House of Representatives conducts its own voting this week. The efforts of David Mark, Senate President, cannot go un-noticed.

For each vote, Senators were required to register to participate.

At some point when the number present, 101, began to dwindle and Senators started abstaining from voting on some issues,  Mark had to make a passionate plea to his colleagues to endeavour to participate with commitment.
However, whatever the Senate has done would still require a concurrence from the House.
AMENDMENTS IN BRIEF

Passed
*Presidential assent to bill not required after 30 days of passage – “(3A) that the assent of the President shall not be required for the purpose of altering the provisions of the constitution

* Life pension for Senate President and Deputy Senate President as well as former Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives

*Transfer of Labour, Pensions and the Railways, pension, Stamp duty, Health Care, Arbitration, agriculture , Road Safety and youths to the Concurrent List

Failed

*Six-year single term

*Local government autonomy

*29, (4), (B) (Adulthood and marriage)

* Mayoral status for the Federal Capital Territory

*First line charge for Attorney- General

*Separation of the office of the Minister of Justice from that of Attorney General of the Federation

* Recommendations to delete the Land Use Act, National Youths Service Corps and Public Complaints Commission from the Constitution

*Removal of Aviation and Prison from the exclusive list

* National Security Agencies Act and the word ‘Force’ from the Nigeria Police Force

*Removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and other serving judicial officers as chairperson and members respectively of the Federal Judicial Service Commission, FJSC