The Senate has said it will consult with
its legal team for advice on the decision of the Acting President,
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to withhold assent to four bills passed by the
National Assembly.
The bills are Dangerous Drugs
(Amendment) Bill 2016, National Lottery (Amendment) Bill 2016,
Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill 2016, and the
Currency Conversion (Freezing Orders) (Amendment) Bill 2016.
In the four letters sent to the Senate,
dated February 7, 2017, the Acting President gave various reasons for
his decision “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution.”
On the Agricultural Credit Guarantee
Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill 2016, Osinbajo said, “The reasons for
withholding assent to the bill are the concerns surrounding board
composition, funding arrangements, limitation of liability of funds, and
proposals to increase levels of un-collaterised loans from N5,000 to
N250,000.”
For withholding asset to the Currency
Conversion (Freezing Orders) (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Acting President
said, “The rationale for withholding assent to the bill is the concern
regarding modalities for the communication of asset forfeiture orders.”
Osinbajo also said the Dangerous Drugs
(Amendment) Bill 2016 could not be assented to, saying, “The rationale
for withholding assent to the bill are the concerns regarding certain
words and phrases utilised in the draft bill that may be inconsistent
with the Principal Act (for example, Section 6 of the bill with Section
21 of the Principal Act) and the spirit behind the proposed amendments.”
Also, the Acting President said he
withheld assent to the National Lottery (Amendment) Bill 2016 due to
“the existence of pending legal challenge to the competence of the
National Assembly to legislate on the subject matter.”
After the Senate President, Dr. Bukola
Saraki, read Osinbajo’s letters to senators at plenary on Wednesday,
Senator Dino Melaye, who sponsored the National Lottery (Amendment)
Bill, raised a point of order and dismissed the Acting President’s
reason for not assenting to it.
Citing Section 4 of the constitution,
the senator described the court process and the decision by Osinbajo as
against the principle of separation of powers.
Melaye said, “Mr. President, the
explanation for withholding the assent as stipulated in the letter by
the Acting President is because there is a pending litigation on this
matter. Mr. President, democracy is standing on the basic principles of
separation of powers and it has divided this into three; the executive,
the legislature and the judiciary.
“Mr. President, the role of the
executive is to carry out its fundamental objective by signing anything
that has been passed by this House and anyone who has a problem with it
can go to court in compliance with the provisions of Section 6 of the
constitution. May it not be a bad day for democracy if we keep quiet and
allow the powers of the legislature to be usurped by the non-compliance
to the provisions of the constitution.”
Saraki, in his response, said the chamber would seek legal advice on the matter as it had to do with separation of powers.
He said, “I think the procedure is that
we will refer this (issue) to our legal department to give us advice on
interpretation on some of the things that you have said, for us to be
properly guided. But, I agree with you that it is a matter that we must
take seriously because it goes down to the issue of separation of
powers. We would get the opinion of the legal department.”
But Senator George Sekibo, rose up to say that the National Assembly had the powers to override the veto of the President.
He said, “The way the constitution is
framed, they have their own roles to play and we have our own role to
play. We check each other. I know that the matter is in court and based
on our rules, we cannot discuss it; it is a different thing. But if it
is just that the President did not give assent, we have to look at the
merit of the particular bill if it meets the standards and if the court
matter is not going to impede what we are going to do. Then, we can
override the veto of the President.”
Again, Saraki stated that the issue should be referred to the legal department for interpretation and counsel.
Osinbajo had last week assented to seven bills passed by the legislature.
Source: [PunchNG]
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