Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege has urged those agitating for a new constitution to mount pressure on their representatives at the National Assembly saying all parts of the current constitution cannot be altered as many would have it modified. He was speaking on Thursday as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics today when he made the statement.
Constitution amendment and review has been an issue of debate in Nigeria for quite a while with many calling for the total repealing of the present charter.
The proponents of the repeal process argue that the 1999 Constitution upon which the nation currently operates is not a ‘peoples constitution’. According to these advocates, the present canon is flawed and was forced upon Nigerians by the military.
For those who seek to repeal the Constitution, an amendment will not suffice, however, Senator Omo-Agege in his interview stated that the legislators “do not have the power to write a new Constitution,” adding that the only power invested in the legislature is the ability to alter.
According to him, the extant legal order only provides for alterations, not a total overhaul. He stressed that Section 9 which some often quote, envisages that any provision of the constitution can be altered, but not all at once.
Omo-Agege further disclosed that for a rewrite of the constitution to be done, then Section 9 would have to be amended, however, for this section to be revised, then four-fifth vote in the Senate which is about 88 Senators out of 109 and about 288 members of the House of Reps.
