House Speaker: Bid to change rules suffers setback

Reps adopt rule to allow continuity of bills
By  Emman Ovuakporie
ABUJA — Plans to amend the rules of the House of Representatives to allow open voting for the Speaker of the House were, yesterday, dropped following continued intrigues in the camps of the two leading aspirants for post.
The House, however, amended its rules to allow for the continuity of work on bills not concluded at the end of the tenure of the House. The move was aimed at overcoming the challenges arising from the president’s veto on the Constitution (Alteration) Bill.
The proposal to amend the House rules to allow open voting was championed by Rep. John Byegh, Benue Federal Constituency but was sidestepped, yesterday, upon fears that the motion would fail and as such negatively impact on the aspiration of one of the aspirants said to be backed by a leading chieftain of the party.
The plan to amend the procedure of electing the House’s presiding officers was aimed at making the voting process an open ballot from its present secret ballot system.
After failing to present the motion last week, the lawmakers were said to have used the weekend to mobilise more signatures but failed to get the required backing from members, forcing them to defer the move.
There was no mention of the motion on the Order Paper, yesterday, and it was not tabled as a matter of urgent public importance, confirming reports that the plot had failed.
“The two groups had mobilised their supporters ahead of yesterday’s sitting but on realising that the motion will be defeated, they beckoned on Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Sam Tsokwa, to step down the item,” a member, who preferred anonymity, disclosed.
Sources said interested members were still determined to push the motion for adoption but were bucking in the face of the vehement opposition by majority of incoming members.
Intent of the amendment

House of Representatives

The intent of the amendment, it was gathered, is to ensure that members are coerced to vote according to the dictates of a senior national leader of the party, a move many of the returning members are said to be opposed to.
Sources in the House told Vanguard, yesterday, that it was upon this that Speaker Aminu Tambuwal intervened to appeal to the party leader to restrategise his objectives by presenting his candidate for the position of deputy speaker.
Presidential veto
The House nevertheless amended its rules to pave the way for the override of a presidential veto.
The move followed the adoption of a motion entitled: ‘Amendment of the standing Orders of the House of Representatives: Order 13 Rule 98,’ to provide for a veto override procedure in the Standing Orders of the House.
The motion sponsored by Chairman House Committee on Rules and Business, Rep Albert Sam-Tsokwa, PDP Taraba  and 22 others  argued that: “The recent exercise of veto power by the President on the Constitution, Fourth Alteration, Bill, 2015 forwarded to him for assent and pending suit before the Supreme Court on same.”
Towards this direction, the House resolved that Order 13, Rule 98 be amended to introduce sub-rules (10)-(13) as follows:
“Sub Rule 10 should reflect that the final copy of the clauses in the bill that received the support of two-thirds majority of the state Houses of Assembly shall be compiled and if passed by a concurrent resolution of the House, shall thereafter be transmitted to the President for assent.
“Sub-Rule 11 should reflect that, where the President withholds assent, the Bill, if passed again by two thirds majority of members of the House, as required by Section 58 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 shall become law.
“Sub-Rule 13 indicated that notwithstanding the provisions of these rules, the process of passage of a Constitution Alteration Bill shall continue from one session to the other and from one Assembly to the next Assembly.
“When all requirements of sub rules (1) to (10) have been met and the President either withholds his assent or fails to communicate the withholding thereof, or any circumstance arises which makes it impracticable for the National Assembly to consider the issue of overriding the President’s veto before the end of the tenure of the Assembly, the succeeding Assembly may, upon such Bill being gazetted again and circulated, resolve to commence the process of veto override under Section 58 of the 1999 constitution.”
The motion was overwhelmingly adopted by the members. Members who spoke to Vanguard at the end of the session derided the President’s veto on the Constitution (Alteration) Bill as an affront.