Constitution amendment: NASS ’ll abide by court’s ruling -Bankole

Olisa Agbakoba (SAN)

Constitution amendment: NASS ’ll abide by court’s ruling -Bankole

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Written by Adewale Ajayi, Lagos Wednesday, 10 November 2010

THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, has said that members of the National Assembly  would abide by the court judgment that constitutional amendment requires presidential assent to become operational.
However, the  former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, said presidential assent would give  too much power to  the president, and if not curtailed, could turn him to a monster.
Bankole made it clear that the National Assembly would resist any attempt to encroach on  its autonomy as an arm of government, and urged the executive and the judiciary to also adhere to the rule of law and the codes guiding inter-governmental relations.
“We will abide by the rule of law on court judgment. But we will also wish that the other arms of government abide by law and order,”
Bankole, who was speaking at a lecture organised by the Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy (OAIGPP) in Lagos, on electoral integrity  said, “we at the House of Representatives will ensure independence of the legislature. We will defend it at all cost, but we will also abide, at all time, by the rule of law.”
He remarked that the lecture series on electoral integrity was apt, but he added that the road map to credible ballots began with the electorate and all stakeholders changing their mindset or attitude and learning to play by the rule.
The guest speaker, Nnamani, who spoke on “Constitutional and Electoral Reform,” warned that those canvassing presidential assent for constitution amendment were unwittingly creating a stronger monster out of whoever occupied the presidential seat because their position subjected public wish to the whims of an individual.
Nnamani called the position of the lawyer canvassing presidential assent - and now the court verdict - a “strategic blunder” Nigeria could least contend with, given the country’s recent experiences in having an all-powerful president as exemplified in the constitutional logjam created by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua leaving the country for months without handing over to his deputy.
“The legal controversy regarding the need for the president to assent to a constitutional amendment is dangerous,” Nnamani warned.