Nigerian parliament, the national assembly has concluded plans to engage the Executive in a bid to ensure President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent to 19 of the 35 alteration bills yet to be signed.
Chairman of the National Assembly Senator Ahmad Lawan, who is also the President of the Senate said this on Tuesday at the resumption of plenary after the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections held last weekend.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Friday, March 17, this year, signed into law, 16 Constitution amendment bills, although 35 of those bills were transmitted to the President on the 24th of January this year.
Senator Lawan believes that, for the 19 bills that the president did not assent to, there is need for further engagement between the national assembly and the executive arm of government.
Senate Presidency Tussle
Meanwhile, Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has formally declared his intention to run for the Senate Presidency when the 10th National Assembly is inaugurated in June this year.
Senator Kalu announced this on tuesday during an interactive session with Journalists shortly before the Lawmakers reconvened in plenary for the first time since the Governorship and state Assembly elections.
A two term Governor of the South East Nigerian state of Abia, Senator Kalu is also advocating for electronic voting system as one of the needed revolutions in the country’s electoral process.
In other developments, the Nigerian senate received two Executive Communications from President Buhari, requesting for the confirmation of his appointments. One of them is a request for confirmation of Mr. Anthony Ojukwu’s nomination for his re-appointment as Executive Secretary of the national human rights commission.
Also requested by the President, is the confirmation of honourable justice Stanley Adekunle Lawal, for appointment as the substantive President of the customary court of appeal of Nigeria’s Federal capital territory.
Olusola Akintonde
