The fate of the Constitution Amendment bill passed on to the President for his assent was yesterday said to be in jeopardy following moves by alleged presidency minders to truncate its effective implementation.
The Senate
At the heart of last minute intrigues reportedly being raised by officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice are objections to the separation of the offices of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice.
Those objecting to the implementation of the new constitution as passed by the National Assembly and consented to by the required number of state legislatures were said to have also dragged in the president into the matter by their pointer to the proposal to push subsequent constitution amendments into law without presidential assent.
The intrigues led to confusion yesterday as there were conflicting claims as to whether the bill had been signed. Some stakeholders alleged that the bill had been signed by the president but that some officials of the ministry of justice were seeking to return it as unsigned to the National Assembly.
Other sources, however, alleged that the bill had not been signed. Presidency officials including direct aides of the president were, however, vague on the issue yesterday. Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Hon. Chijoke Edoga toldVanguard last night that he was not aware that the bill had been signed.
Section 150 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides for the establishment of the Office of Attorney General of the Federation to be detached from that of the Minister of Justice.
The proposal in Section 174A-174H of the Constitution as forwarded to the president also set qualifications for the Office and granted financial autonomy, security of tenure, and other improved powers to the Attorney General of the Federation.
Part of the thinking in giving independence to the Attorney General of the Federation was to immune the office holder from the political influence of the government in power.
The proposal for the separation of the office at the federal level was also adopted at the state levels where the office of the commissioner of justice was separated from the attorney general of the state.
Bureaucrats at the Federal Ministry of Justice it was learnt, were said to have rallied round to stop the new constitution from coming into effect on the assumption that it would deny them of their present advantages.
Towards that direction, they were alleged to have also successfully brought the attention of presidential aides to the fact that allowing the constitution to come into view would mean stripping the president of his power of giving the final say on constitution amendments.
Some sources said yesterday that the president was prevailed upon not to sign the bill as passed to him on the claim that he would weaken the presidency and future presidents who would be denied of the privilege and powers he presently enjoys.
A presidential veto of the Constitution Amendment Bill would, however, throw up constitutional issues as there is no room allowed for the National Assembly to override a presidential veto on constitution amendment bills.
Some members of the National Assembly, especially Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy president of the Senate had in the past canvassed that the constitution amendment bill should not be passed on to the president for assent on the ground that it is a unique bill that ends with the legislature as is done in the United States.
However, such objections were played down four years ago when President Goodluck Jonathan signed into bill the first Constitution Amendment Bill to allow the first alteration of the constitution since the advent of democratic rule in 1999.