The House of Representatives committee overseeing the review of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended) said yesterday that it had not received any proposal from President Goodluck Jonathan seeking the removal of the immunity clause for state governors.
At a briefing with newsmen on the state of affairs of the Lower House’s ongoing constitution review, a committee member, Eziuche Ubani, made the clarification against the backdrop of stiff contestation from the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) against the planned move by Jonathan.
“This is not the first time we have had such reaction on the likely removal from the governor’s forum. There is nothing before this committee on that. We have not gotten proposals from the president. So we don’t know what anybody is reacting to,” Ubani, who chairs the review panel’s Ad Hoc committee on media relations, clarified.
He said the review committee will be people-oriented in consideration of the proposal when it is presented.
“But be that as it may, the attitude we have in this committee and, indeed, the House, is that we will respond to the issues of the people. The governor’s forum is a constituency and they also represent the people, the constitution belongs to the people and is supposed to guide the people. What we attend to do is to respond to the bigger sentiments of the people of Nigeria and not basically any group.
“The president will have to send a proposal to the National Assembly, I think we can speak very specifically on those when the time comes. As it is, there is nothing before us.” He stated.
On clamours for state creation and request for constitutional listing of new Local Government Areas (LGAs) created in some states, the review committee confirmed receipt of a deluge of such proposals and said consideration will be given to all requests.
SOURCE: Leadership Newspaper, 10 May 2012. http://www.leadership.ng/nga/
No comments:
Post a Comment