By Levinus Nwabughiogu
Lawyers in Defence of Human Rights and the National Assembly support groups, Wednesday, said the House of Representatives some rejected bills at the last constitutional amendment exercise will be represented for reconsideration in the current 10th National Assembly.
The lawyers said with the deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu’s legal experience, the House will be well guided under Speaker Tajudeen Abass to deliver and surpass the gains of the immediate past 9th Assembly’s constitutional reforms.
The groups in a joint statement signed by their leaders, Obinna Nwabueze, Sebastian Anumege, F.C Jones and surveyor Durukweaku said Kalu who will double as the Chairman Special Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution review has shown in his first four years as a lawmaker shown competence and capacity in the discharge of his legislative duties.
The groups recalled that one of Kalu’s bill in the 9th House, which sought to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to delete the item “prisons” in the Exclusive Legislative List and redesignate it as “Correctional Services” in the Concurrent Legislative List; was assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The lawyers expressed optimism that Kalu as a lawyer will do exceptionally well as the Chairman of the constitution review Committee which according to parliamentary tradition was headed by the Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives.
The statement further stated that “Since the return of democratic rule, there has been attempt by various Assemblies to amend the constitution. While the exercise by the legislative arm was futile in past assemblies, however remarkable success was achieved by the parliament under the leadership of former Senate President Ahmed Lawan and former Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
“The 9th National Assembly had in June 2019, promised to repeal the offending provisions encumbering the country’s democracy by reworking and giving Nigerians a progressive document. Through the constitutional review process, the Senate and House of Representatives sought to restructure the government to make it more effective.
“While laudable strides were made by the lawmakers in the 9th Assembly, with some of the bills assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari, the 10th Assembly is expected to revisit the rejected bills and more proposals that will resurface. We are optimistic that the Deputy Speaker, Kalu who will double as the Chairman Special Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution review will do a good job in ensuring that the 10th assembly will surpass the gains made by the 9th House on constitutional reforms.”
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