Constitutional Amendment: AG Must Act Now —Lagos Lawmaker

A  lawmaker at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Babajide Akinloye says the only way out of the present constitutional crisis is the intervention of the Attorney-General of the Federation in approaching the Supreme Court for final interpretation on whether the President must give its assent before the amendments to the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly could be effective.

Hon. Akinloye while speaking with newsmen in Lagos said a situation where the National Assembly is insisting that the amendments to the constitution do not need Presidential assent is worrisome and is further complicated by the Federal High Court verdict which ruled that the President must assent to the amendments before they become law.

The Lawmaker  insisted that the final solution lay with the apex court’s pronouncement on the contentious issue of assent and the Attorney General of the Federation as a matter of urgent national importance must approach the apex court for final solution to the crisis.

Akinloye who is the Chairman of House Committee on Works added that arguments on whether the President’s assent is not needed do not hold water because even the Lagos State Governor still has to assent to bills and amendments carried out by the state lawmakers and wondered why theirs would be different.

The legislator who is aspiring to represent Eti-Osa Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, also described as fallacy the reports that the Lagos State House of Assembly supported the amendments to the second alteration of the 1999 Constitution, saying he never remembered that the issue of the second alteration was discussed at the plenary of the assembly.