- Safiu Kehinde
Members of the House of Representatives have rejected bill seeking rotational presidency.
The lawmakers had at the green chamber’s plenary session on Tuesday voted against the bill which was lumped alongside six other constitution amendment bills that failed to scale the second reading.
Attention was mostly focused on the proposal to rotate the president and vice president roles among the six geopolitical zones.
The plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abass, saw many lawmakers opposed and warned against establishing a potentially harmful precedent.
Leading the charge of the dissenting voices was Deputy Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki, who argued that the Federal Character Commission has already managed the issues the amendment sought to address.
He cautioned that rotation should not be enshrined in the constitution but allowed to remain unregulated.
Madaki stressed further that existing political parties have measures to guarantee equitable representation in the allocation of positions during each electoral cycle.
Meanwhile, other bills rejected by the lawmakers include ‘A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to remove from Independent National Electoral Commission, the Powers of Registration and Regulation of Political Parties in Nigeria and Transfer same to the Office of the Registrar General of Political Parties and for Related Matters (HB. 2227) (Hon. Abbas Tajudeen and Hon. Francis E. Waive)’.
They also include ‘A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Cap. C23, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to Provide for the Principle of Rotation of the Offices of the President and the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria among the Six Geopolitical Zones of the Country, Namely: North Central, North East, North West, South East, South South, and South West and for Related Matters (HB. 2291) (Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu).
However, the bills are likely to be reconsidered by the green chamber on Wednesday.