Constitutional Amendment Controversy over Section 29(4)(b):
A Note on Meeting with Senate Leadership, Abuja, Wednesday 24 July 2013.
A cross-section of advocates, including representatives of
senior public officers, civics and professionals met at
the premises of the Senate with the leadership of the Senate led by the
President of the Senate, David Mark, GCON over the fallouts from the vote of
the Senate to reverse itself on the deletion of Section 29(4)(b) from the
Constitution.
Organised under the Gender & Constitutional Reform
Network (GECORN), the advocates, who
were led by the Honorable Minister for Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab
Maina, included two former Ministers, Josephine Anenih & Oby Ezekwesili;
member of the African Committee of on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Mrs.
Maryam Uwais; Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Anselm
Odinkalu; Executive Secretary of WRAPA & member of the Governing Council of
the National Human Rights Commission, Saudatu Mahdi; Executive Director of the
Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund, Ayisha Osori; Country Director of Action Dr.
Hussaini Abdu; country Vice-President of FIDA, Hauwa Shekarau; National Women
Leader of the Labour Party, Mrs. Ebere Ifendu; and representatives of several
other non-governmental organizations.
Led by the Senate President, the Senate delegation included
Senators Ningi, Chris Anyanwu, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Ganiyu Solomon, Nenadi Usman,
Anyaogu Exe, and James Manager and later swelled to include Senator Helen
Esuene. Outside Senators Kabir Gaya and Nuru Abatemi, among others, also
engaged the group
In introducing the dialogue, the Minister for Women Affairs
informed the Senate President about the worries of Nigerians which led to the
visit of the delegation. Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi presented a two page petition
calling on the Senate to re-visit its vote to retain Section 29(4)(b) and
making the case why this is both lawful and in the overall interest of the
country. The petition also made the point that this is about citizenship and
not about religion.
The Honorable Minister, who had called short a working visit
to Geneva to attend this dialogue with the Senate formally presented to the
Senate President 14,129 hand-written signatures in support of the petition.
In his response on behalf of his colleagues, the Senate
President acknowledged that he agreed with the position articulated in the petition.
He explained that the Senate on its own took initiative to move, in keeping
with the wishes of Nigerians, the deletion of S. 29(4)(b) from the Constitution
and reported that when the first vote was taken on this proposal, 85 Senators
voted in support of the deletion.
To re-visit this vote successfully, the Senate requires the
affirmative vote of 73 members, constituting two-thirds of the 109 members of
the Chamber.
He regretted that a member of the Chamber chose to inject
religion into the debate and, as a result, sowed division in the proceedings,
pointing out that, as a responsible institution, the Senate has always strived
to eschew sectarianism from its proceedings. He equally regretted that as a
result of the act of this Senator, some of his colleagues “were blackmailed” to
revisit their votes and, as a result, when the vote was taken again, they had
lost 25 votes and the 60 affirmative votes were not enough to sustain the
deletion.
He reported that as he left the Chamber to go home after the
vote, he was deluged with calls from all over Nigeria, saying: “some of them
didn’t even bother to hear my explanation. They just told me to go to hell.” He
said that the Senate was on the side of Nigerians and that they were not happy
with being called “paedophiles”, child molesters and the various other names
that have been circulating on the social media.
The Senate President said that they have been deluged by the
calls and messages of angry Nigerians and affirmed that they were willing to
consider re-visiting this vote. He appealed for more education on the virtues
of religion scholars and those knowledgeable in these issues, so that people
can understand that the vote has nothing to do with religion but is only about
citizenship. In his words, the Senate is willing to “find a way forward…. I
know that we brought this one on ourselves but please help us to get out of it.
We are doing our best to get out of it.
The civic advocates also requested the Senate to hasten
action on pending legislative measures affecting the protection of women in
Nigeria, including the Violence against Persons Bill, which has been passed by
the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, two members of the House of Representatives:
Minority Whip, Monday Osagie and Chair of the Diaspora Committee, Abike Dabiri,
have introduced a Bill in the House of Representatives for the deletion of Section
29(4)(b) from the Constitution.
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