Senate Strips President Of Power To Assent To Bills

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday stripped the country’s president of his powers to assent to bills.The development may come as a huge surprise to many Nigerians, following the cordial relationship enjoyed by the Senate and the presidency, compared to that of the green chamber (the House of Representatives) which was recently sabotaged because of individual political ambition and personal interest.

The Cable reports that the Senate at its plenary this morning approved amendments to the 1999 constitution as recommended in the submission of the constitution alteration bill brought forward by the state houses of assembly.

The current amendment now stipulates that the president will no longer be needed to assent to a bill before it can become law if the national assembly has already approved it.Meanwhile, Senate President David Mark onFebruary 17 dismissed allegations about the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) plotting to form an interim government.

Some senior officials fear that after the postponement of the general elections the ruling party planned to use the National Assembly to extend President Jonathan’s tenure through an interim national government, an allegation the presidency has denied on the grounds that the Nigerian Constitution does not have a provision for such a government.Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo while speaking with BBC on the issue of an interim national government, maintained that there was no such practice in the country’s constitution.