ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Senators on Thursday in Abuja refused to comments on the Supreme Court order, forbidding the National Assembly from carrying out further actions on the fourth alterations to the 1999 constitution.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN) Justice Mahmud Mohammed, who led six other Justices at the hearing of a suit filed by the Federal Government seeking to stop the NASS from overriding President Goodluck Jonathan’s veto on the said amendments to the constitution specifically, cautioned the parties in the suit not to do anything that will affect the subject matter of the suit.
The court consequently adjourned the suit to June 18 when a new government will have come on board and the legislative session of the present NASS would have ended.
The Supreme Court’s order has effectively killed the threat by the NASS to go ahead to pass the amendments into law thereby rendering the whole amendments process which gulped billion of Naira a wasted exercise.
In the bid to stop the National Assembly from going ahead to pass into the controversial amendments to the constitution, the Attorney General of the Federation had applied for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the lawmakers from taking any further step towards passing the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act, 2015 into law pending the final determination of the suit earlier filed before the court.
The application filed by the counsel to the AGF, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN was brought pursuant to Order 3 Rule 14 of the Supreme Court Rules as amended, premised the application on the grounds among others that the National Assembly was determined to proceed with passing the constitution by overriding the veto of same despite the fundamental nature of the issues raised against it.
When the case came up before the court, the CJN sought clarification on whether the suit was properly instituted saying that the President should have filed the suit by himself and not through the AGF.
According to him, “since the dispute is not between the federal government and the federating units, the proper person to file the suit should be the president.
However, FG’s Counsel Ojo, SAN maintained that the suit was properly constituted.
The justices of the court also sought to know whether it was right not to make states’ houses of assembly parties since they participated in the process that resulted in the amendments.
The court therefore adjourned the suit to June 18 for Ojo to address the court on whether the case was properly constituted.
But before the adjournment, the CJN said: “Parties should not do anything that will affect the subject matter of the suit.”
In the application for injunction the AGF said it was more in the interest of the whole Nigerian Polity that the issues in the substantive suit herein be resolved one way or the other before the National Assembly can proceed further on the proposed alterations to the constitution.
It stressed that the Defendant/Respondent will not lose anything or suffer any prejudice if this application is granted, adding that the balance of convenience tilts in favour of granting this application.
The Federal Government dragged the National Assembly to the Supreme Court asking the apex court to declare the amendments to the constitution proposed by the lawmakers as unconstitutional.
In an originating summons, the government asked the apex court to make an order nullifying and setting aside Sections 3, 4, 12, 14, 21, 23, 36, 39, 40, 43 and 44 of the Fourth Alteration Act, 2015 purportedly passed by the Defendant.
Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba ( SAN) declined comment on the ruling, until Senate gets the court order, saying: “I am not aware. Court processes are not broadcast on networks. We have to be served with the processes so that we know the exact terms of the order or orders made; and to the best of my knowledge, the National Assembly has not been served with any order.
“Until we are served, I cannot speculate, it will be academic to begin to speculate. Supposing, we are not served at all? Supposing the information is wrong? Supposing, it is right. And we don’t know the terms of the order. We have to wait to be served with the order so that we look at the terms before making any pronouncement on it,” he maintained.
Chairman Senate committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, agreed with Ndoma-Egba, stressing that “as at now am speaking, I have not seen the court order to know the parties and to know the prayers before the court and the details of the order and on whom it was directed.
So, I will reserve all comments until we are served with the court order and we know the content of the order, and the effect of it on legislative process. Therefore, we will not be able to be categorical on this. It is about the action of the court, which we are bound.
“So, we have to know whether we are the parties and whether it relates to the matter that is being handled by us. So, unless and until we are served, you will not be able to be precise on what to do,” he insisted.
On the meeting of the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment which held on Wednesday, the lawmaker maintained that it is only the Chairman of the Committee that can speak on what “we decided but we took far reaching decisions.
“I am a member of the Committed on Constitution review but it will not be appropriate for me to speak on what we discussed and agreed because it was a Committee’s decision,” he noted.
Credit: Daily Independent (Nigeria)
