By Ike Ekweremadu

Constitution amendment has always been a foremost democratic norm and is predicated upon the fact that no constitution stands the test of eternity, not the least one bequeathed by undemocratic regimes and with less than satisfactory inputs by the wider population of the people it is supposed to serve. It would be recalled, for instance, that the Constitution of the United States of America, one of the world’s most celebrated democracies, has undergone 27 Amendments over time to solidify their federation by taking care of such critical issues as federal relationships, terms of office, stoppage of slavery, Congressional emoluments, civil liberties and freedoms, expansion of the electorate, etc in line with the emerging dynamics of the American society at various times.

We are by this constitution review exercise, therefore, following in the step of the well established democratic tradition that when a constitution, or any law for that matter, falls short of salient provisions that guarantee and promote the constitutional needs of a polity and the aspirations of the people, such constitution is reviewed. Laws are made for man, not man for the law. This is what makes the difference between autocracy and democracy.

Together, we all broke the jinx, making a historic success of that effort by recording the following breakthroughs:

Handover to Vice President/Deputy Governor settled:
This particular matter became a major political challenge in 2010 during the unfortunate illness and eventual demise of late President Musa Yar’Adua. To avoid such occurrence in future, the National Assembly amended Sections 145 and 190 of the Constitution to make it compulsory for the President and a Governor, respectively, to transmit a letter to the National Assembly or State Assembly, accordingly, to enable their deputies to act whenever they are proceeding on vacation or unable to discharge their functions. And where this is not done, the Vice President or Deputy Governor automatically begins to act after 21 days of the absence of the President or Governor.
Remaining term of office when a President/Governor wins re-run:

Whereas the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a landmark ruling on the matter brought before it by Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State maintained that a Governor’s or President’s term begins to run from the date he/she was sworn in, Governors such as those of Ekiti, Cross River, Adamawa, and Kogi States whose elections were annulled, but who won the reruns, also thought this applied to them and carried on as such. Consequently, Sections 135 and 180 of the Constitution were amended to straighten the intendment of the Constitution to the effect that “in the determination of the four year term, where a rerun election has taken place and the person earlier sworn in wins the rerun election, the time spent in the office before the date the election was annulled, shall be taken into account.”

Independence of INEC:
One of the landmark achievements of constitution amendment in the 6th National Assembly was the securing of both administrative and financial independence for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in line with international best practices and popular demand by the Nigerian people.

Qualification for INEC membership:
The Constitution had erroneously provided that a candidate for nomination for membership of INEC should hold the same qualifications as one seeking election into the House of Representatives. This naturally includes membership of a political party. This could not have been the intention of the drafters of the constitution. Therefore, we amended Section 156 of the Constitution to insulate INEC members from partisan politics.

Fixed time for disposal of election petitions:
Our electoral processes have hitherto faced the challenge of too many rigmarole and undue delays in election petitions. Since justice delayed is justice denied, Section 285 Subsections 5-8 were amended to provide for a timeline for filing, hearing, and delivery of judgment/returns on petitions.

Wider timeline for the conduct of elections: Sections 76, 116, 132, and 178 were amended to provide for a wider timeframe of not earlier than one hundred and fifty days and not later than ninety days. With this, INEC has now been handed ample time to plan and deliver credible elections.

Reduction in the number of judges on Election Petition Tribunals:
This was done with a view to quickening the dispensation of justice at the tribunals. It means there are more judges available for appointment into the tribunals, while fewer judges are needed for a tribunal to sit.

Financial autonomy for the National Assembly:
A milestone was also scored by securing the financial independence of the National Assembly from the Executive arm. Regrettably, the same could not be achieved for the State legislatures as that amendment could not muster the required two-thirds of the State Houses of Assembly to pass as amended.

Nigeria is on the march again, continuing from where we stopped in the 6th National Assembly. This Public Hearing, therefore, comes as a fulfilment of constitutional and legislative due process aimed at ensuring that the Nigerian people own and drive the process.

Let me avail myself of this opportunity to refresh our minds on the thematic areas of focus in this Public Hearing.  Following our earlier call for memoranda, the Committee has at the last count received a total of 231 memoranda in addition to 56 other memoranda proposing the creation of additional states. Nigerians have poured out their minds on the way forward for the country, especially on the following key issues:

Devolution of powers:
There are suggestions that the current Federal Government is behemoth, hence the need for the redistribution of powers as well as the proper streamlining of the Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution to reflect a true federal system.

State creation:
Demands for state creation have endured and proponents hinge their demands on need for equity, justice, and speedy development.

Constitutional recognition of six geopolitical zones: There are suggestions that this has become imperative since it has become a political factor and served the purposes of equitable distribution of opportunities and mobilisation for socio-economic development.

The Local Government System: There has been a deluge of memoranda to the effect that our Local Governments are largely dysfunctional, hence the need for a proper definition of their status, powers, and functions within the Nigerian federal structure.

Fiscal Federalism:
Nigerians have through their memoranda expressed worries that the current fiscal relation in our federal system is unwholesome and cannot drive competitive development as envisioned by our founding fathers. Memoranda so far received are however not in agreement on how best to rectify the perceived anomaly.

Residency and indigene: There are suggestions on the best way to guarantee equity and rights of every Nigerian in any part of the country, irrespective of his/her ethnicity, State of origin, sex, language, and religion. Most memoranda on this subject seek to suggest that the State of Origin be replaced with State of Residence.

There are suggestions on the need to amend S.147(3) requiring ministerial nominees to be indigenes instead of residents.  S.42 of the 1999 constitution deals with non discrimination.  How do we ensure that Nigeria takes full advantage of that provision?