Jonathan Told To Seek Legal Backing To National Conference’s Outcome President Goodluck Jonathan has been asked to send a private bill to the National Assembly to request for a legal backing to the outcome of the National conference and the wishes of the people before the end of the conference. In an interview on Saturday with Channels Television’s judiciary correspondent, Shola Soyele, a Nigerian lawyer, Robert Clarke, said that the outcome of the conference would be meaningless if the National Assembly would be allowed to approve the decision of the conference or a referendum. Mr Clarke’s call is the latest on the need for legal backing for the decision of the conference which will end in June. “The wish of the people is most important in the development of every country. “I am happy that the president has now agreed that whatever decisions taken at the conference would go for a referendum,” he said. Mr Clarke further expressed fears that the President had failed to lay a legal basis upon which any decision of the conference could be hinged. “It is becoming late from what I hear… When the President said that the decision may go for a referendum, the National Assembly’s leader said that they do not mind but when the decision goes to referendum it will come back to them. That is where we are going to have problem in Nigeria. “I am seeing the dark cloud. Whatever decision the conference agrees in three or four months’ time, if they make the mistake that it goes to referendum and it drastically changes the system of governance we have today, this National Assembly will never approve it,” he said. Since the conference started in March, lawyers have insisted on an amendment of the constitution to provide for the conduct of a referendum if the conference delegates would agree that their recommendations should be adopted through a referendum. On April 2, the Nigerian Senate considered the procedure for the introduction of a new constitution as part of the amendment to the 1999 constitution. If the amendment is passed, the nation’s president and the National Assembly can introduce a brand new constitution. For years, some Nigerians have said the current constitution, having more of military governments’ inputs, does not represent the wishes and aspirations of the people.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 19:32:59 +0000
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