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| Hon Emeka Ihedioha |
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman
of the ad-hoc committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Emeka Ihedioha,
explained on Monday why his committee did not adopt proposals on state police,
single tenure of office and immunity for the President, Vice President,
Governors and Deputy Governors.
He said
the position of his committee on those issues and many others was a reflection
of the views and position of the generality of Nigerians during the peoples’
public sessions conducted by the House last November.
Ihedioha
spoke at the Protea Hotel, Abuja, on the review of proposed amendment to the
1999 Constitution organised by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
Explaining
the process adopted by the committee in arriving at its report, Ihedioha
stressed that it was all-inclusive, thorough and painstaking.
“As has
been clarified on many occasions, the work of the Committee was designed in
such a manner that it relied on the input of Nigerians to arrive at its
decisions. And the Civil Society Organisations have continued to play major
roles in all the stages of the process so far.
“The
House ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Review conducted a painstaking
consultative process with major stakeholders as joint-organisers.
“These
stakeholders include the NLC, TUC, NUJ, NUT, CSOs, NULGE, NCWS, youth and
students organisations, NBA etc. The results (of the peoples’ public sessions)
were collated publicly with all the stakeholders present.
“The
results have been presented and published for people to dispute and correct. In
the absence of any convincing reason to the contrary, we stand by these
results.
“Standing
by the results as collated means that the Committee reflected the decisions of
Nigerians during those sessions.
“The
recommendations of the Committee are not the personal views of members of the
Committee or the Leadership of the House. They are the collective views of
Nigerians,” he added.
On
abolishment of the state/local government joint account proposed by his
committee, the Deputy Speaker said 295 federal constituencies voted in favour
whereas 62 voted for its retention while three absented.
According
to him, although many “celebrated pundits and constitutional lawyers have
repeatedly canvassed that local government should be a state responsibility,
further questions put forward to determine the views of the public on this
issue proved the outspoken elite wrong.
“On the
second question, ‘Should the Constitution be amended so that the process to
create local government areas now rest exclusively with the states, such that
states assume responsibility for the funding of local governments,’ the people
voted overwhelmingly to reject this proposal by 276 federal constituencies to
78 with 6 abstentions.
“On the
question, ‘Should the local government councils be accorded the status of a
third tier of government properly so called with its own legislative list?’ 291
federal constituencies answered ‘Yes’ in support and 66 federal constituencies
returned a ‘No’ answer with 3 abstentions.
“And for
another question on local government autonomy, ‘Should the Constitution be
amended to deny revenue allocation to unelected local government councils?’ 277
federal constituencies agreed, while 70 federal constituencies disagreed with
13 abstentions.
“On the
issue of tenure, the question, ‘Should there be a defined tenure for local
government chairmen/councilors in the Constitution?’ received an almost
unanimous answer in agreement, as 331 federal constituencies, voted ‘Yes’,
while 26 constituencies voted ‘No’ with 3 abstentions’.
Ihedioha
said Nigerians in their numbers supported the abolition of State Independent
Electoral Commissions (SIECs), as 261 federal constituencies supported their
abrogation while only 95 constituencies rejected it with four abstentions.
The
Deputy Speaker said such resounding views of the people could not have been
tempered with by his committee.
“We have
no choice but to reflect the manifest wishes and mandate of Nigerians on these
issues. No doubt, beneficiaries of the current system may think otherwise.
“As a
matter of fact local government autonomy may be decidedly against federalist
principles. But Nigerians have chosen the type of federalism they want, guided
by their experiences.
“It is
for Nigerians to defend their choice and make sure their voices count. We have
done our duty,” he said.
On the
issue of removal of immunity, Ihedioha said 225 federal constituencies voted to
remove criminal immunity but retain only civil immunity for President, Vice
President, Governors and Deputy Governors.
He added
that 132 federal constituencies rejected this position with three abstentions.
“Once
again we did our duty. If the Senate or the House of Representatives or State
Houses of Assembly reject this clear decision of the people, so be it. It is
again for Nigerians to hold those it elected accountable,” he added.
On state
police, he said, “The Nigerian people were almost unanimous in rejecting the
establishment of State Police in Nigeria.”
He said
also that 307 federal constituencies voted ‘No’ to the question: ‘Should
Section 214 (1) be amended to enable the establishment of State Police?’
“Only 53
federal constituencies supported this. To a further question, ‘Should Nigeria
have one police organisation which shall be constituted in such manner as to
give state Governors control over the Commissioner of Police in their
respective states?’ the answer was a resounding ‘No’ by 237 federal constituencies,
while 53 said ‘Yes’, with 70 abstentions.
“Nigerians
voted overwhelmingly to retain the current police structure and system as in
the Constitution by 292 to 62 federal constituencies with 6 abstentions. As a
result of this vote, the Committee did not recommend the establishment of State
Police.”
On tenure
of office, Ihedioha said 245 federal constituencies rejected the question of a
single tenure for Chief Executives while 110 supported same with five
abstentions.
A further
question, ‘Should the (4 years) two term tenure provision for the office of the
President or office of Governor be retained in the Constitution?’, Ihedioha
said, elicited a positive response from 263 constituencies while only 95 voted
‘No’ with two abstentions.
“With
this level of unanimity, it was not difficult for the Committee to adopt the
current 4-year renewable tenure and to reject the single term proposal of
either 5, 6 or 7 years. This is the clear position of Nigerians on this issue,”
he stressed.
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