Well, he can afford it.
In a society where the fog of poverty, need (and even want) have conspired to make those with sight appear blind, it should be consoling that some members of the public would continue to demonstrate a commitment to the Nigerian project in whatever capacity they can.
Therefore, when Agbakoba engaged in the legal voyage of clarifying whether the National Assembly can amend the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria without the assent of the President and Commander-in-Chief, the naysayer immediately read mischievous political motives into the action. But just on Monday, November 8, the Federal High Court vindicated Agbakoba by delivering a judgment which categorically states that the President is a part of the amendment process.
That was why Sunday Vanguard went after him because we were also part of the story when he proceeded to the law courts earlier in the year.
In this interview, Agbakoba explains why he went to court and the goodness in the judgment he got.
But beyond that, Agbakoba expressed angst against a system whereby the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation would “file a preliminary objection that the matter ought not to be in court and that, also, he was not an interested party. But I was happy that the judge said “‘NO! Attorney- General of the Federation, you are an interested party; you should have even brought the matter to court’”.
For Agbakoba, whose CV reads like a chapter from a book, it is very consoling that all is not lost in Nigeria.
Agbakoba told Sunday Vanguard that it was the way Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President threw it in the face of Nigerians that whoever was not satisfied with the National Assembly’s position that the President did not have to give his assent before the amendment is carried should go to court that made him take his action.
Excerpts:
Based on the judgment you got from the High Court regarding the matter of whether the President and Commander-in-Chief should assent to a bill before it becomes law, can we have a sense of what has been achieved?
First, I am happy I won.
But, let me say that as a concerned Nigerian, I was somehow taken aback when I discovered that the National Assembly allowed itself to fall into a simple error of not following simple parliamentary proceedings which is about making laws for the good governance of this country. And, when you have the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, telling Nigerians that anybody who doesn’t like what they have done should go to court that was what spurred me into action. At that point, I said this is the height.
Just a day before, Professor Ben Nwabueze had spoken on the matter and what he said formed the basis of my brief.
Prof. Nwabueze told a simple story about how every country has its culture, norms, precedents and that in the amendment of the Nigerian constitution, you couldn’t look to the American Constitution even though we are both practising the Presidential system and, therefore, the starting point of his argument was that, does the National Assembly have the powers to amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Yes, it has! But, was the National Assembly right in saying that the amendment does not need the assent of the President? What they said is that the amendment process had been concluded without a presidential assent.
He then referred to Section 12 of the Constitution to show the intent of the drafters of the Constitution. Section 12 deals with the President submitting international treaties to the National Assembly and that make it participatory so that it can become Nigerian law.
That is the only time that a presidential assent is not required in that sense but even that one is very clear because the President has assented. So, assents are required on both sides. It is so clear.
Then there is Section 9 (2), and Section 68 (5), makes it very clear that amending the Constitution is not so special.
Read More:http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/11/presidential-assent-to-constitutional-amendment-the-dangers-of-not-monitoring-the-national-assembly-by-olisa-agbakoba/
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