Umuahia— ABIA State House of Assembly has rejected 12 out of the 41clauses sent to them by the National Assembly in the Constitutional Amendment Bill. The House has, however, approved the other 29 clauses.

Among the clauses rejected by the House were the issues of educational qualification for candidates and independent candidacy.

Abia House rejected the elevation of the qualification to Diploma from the previous provision of School Certificate.They also rejected the issue of independent candidacy, saying  they still wanted political parties to sponsor candidates.

On the issue of educational qualification, the House said it would shut many people from running for elections. The members argued that school certificate of say 1970 could be well valuated above Diplomas of today.

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Chief Chinedu Elechi, said the House members reached the decisions after consulting their various constituencies.