President Jonathan is just a month away from
leaving as president of Nigeria and he could have
signed the constitutional amendment bill that
doesn't particularly concern him anymore but he
refused to. For those who don't know what's going
on, let me break it down to the best of my ability.
Lol. So, the Nigerian Senate is trying to amend the
1999 constitution to the effect that it will whittle
down some executive powers of the President and
give more power to the legislature and judiciary.
If amended, it means there are some decisions and
actions the president can't take without the consent
of the National Assemly and there will be decisions
the National Assembly can take without the consent
of the president. Like I said, GEJ could sign this and
walk away but instead he refused to sign it. He wrote
a 7-page letter to the Senate explaining why he
declined to sign the document into law.
"In view of the foregoing and absence of
credible evidence that the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration)
Act 2015 satisfied the strict requirements of
Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution, it will be
unconstitutional for me to assent to it. I
therefore withhold my assent and accordingly
remit Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015 to the
Senate /House of Representatives of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria."
But now, the National Assembly is saying that after
30 days, if the president doesn't sign the doc, they
will override his veto. Meaning that they will give
themselves the power to amend the constitution
without the president's signature. Now the federal
government has instituted a suit at the Supreme
Court to nullify the proposed amendments to the
1999 Constitution.
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