The House of Representatives has commenced an ambitious plan to separate the office of the Attorney General of the Federation from the office of The Minister of Justice.
According to the House, separating the office will remove political interference in the activities of the AGF’s office.
The 8th National Assembly made futile attempts to separate the office as part of its Constitution review exercise.
The state Houses of Assembly require at least a two-third majority to support the Natinal Assembly. Efforts to endure this failed at the 8th Parliament.
The 9th Assembly on Tuesday however took another look at the amendment proposed by the Majority House Whip Hon. Mohammed Monguno to separate the two positions.
Leading a debate on the bill, Monguno said the proposal was based on his experience as a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Borno State, stating that at the moment, too much power is vested in the minister of or commissioner for justice by combining the two offices.
Monguno said the powers vested in the attorney general by the Constitution are judicial in nature and when fully exercised, they could affect the rights of the people, which should not be exposed to political influence.
The Chief Whip noted that the attorney general had the powers to enter a nolle a prosequi or discontinue a case already in court, adding that recent developments had suggested that it should be isolated from political interference.
He also noted that while President Muhammadu Buhari should be free to make political considerations in the appointment of a justice minister, the appointment of the attorney general should be based only on career progression.
Seconding the motion, Mr Nicholas Ossai recalled that the bill was first passed by the 7th and 8th Assemblies. He stated that a particular office should not be vested with too much power.
The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, after the bill was unanimously passed for second reading, referred it to the Committee on Legislative Matters for further legislative action.
Also on Tuesday, the House passed for second reading, another bill seeking to amend the Constitution to allow members of the National Judicial Council to appoint their secretary “rather than being recommended for appointment by a lower body of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.”
Another bill passed for second reading by the House was seeking to amend Section 7 of the Constitution to provide for the offices of chairman and vice-chairman of local government councils.
The amendment will set new conditions for the qualification and disqualification of a chairman, declaration of assets and liabilities, oaths of office, election of a chairman, nomination and election of a vice-chairman, removal of a chairman or vice-chairman from office, the tenure of office for the chairman and the election of councillors.
The sponsor of the bill, Mr Dachung Bagos, while leading debate on the proposal, said, “Essentially, this bill seeks to provide for election and tenure of office for local government chairmen/councillors and prescribe the mode of exercising legislative powers of the local government council.
“This is a very straight-forward piece of legislation that seeks to provide for democratically elected local government councils and, as true representatives of our people, the need to alter this relevant provision of the Constitution cannot be over-emphasised. I, therefore, appeal for your overwhelming support that the bill be read for the second time and referred to the ad hoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution for further legislative action please.”
(C) Control TV 2019.
