Mr Omo-Agege says the only thing the National Assembly can do is to amend the constitution.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, has declared that the National Assembly has no power to replace the current constitution with a new one.
Mr Omo-Agege’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yomi Odunuga, in a statement on Wednesday, said the deputy senate president made the remark when he hosted members of the Alliance of Nigerian Patriots led by Umunna Orjiako.
Mr Omo-Agege, who is Chairperson, Senate Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review, said the National Assembly had no powers to replace the current constitution, but could only amend it.
He cited advanced democracies, such as the U.S., where Nigeria’s presidential system of government was modelled after and sections 8 and 9 of the 1999 Constitution as amended to buttress his argument.
The lawmaker said what was only obtainable was a piecemeal alteration of the constitution by the National Assembly.
He, therefore, urged those calling for a new constitution to channel their energy toward participating actively in the ongoing amendment of the constitution by the Ninth Assembly.
He said: “One of the issues you raised is the replacement of the 1999 Constitution.
“I am not so sure that we as a Parliament have the power to replace the Constitution.
“We can only make amendments and it is explicit in sections 8 and 9 of the constitution on how we can do that and the requisite number of votes required.
“I say that because there are some top attorneys in this country, who for some reason, keep saying that we don’t even need any of this, that we should just bring a new constitution, we can’t do that.
“What we are mandated to do by law is to look at those provisions and bring them up-to-date with global best practices, especially to the extent that it tallies with the views of the majority of Nigerians.
“So we are not in a position to replace this constitution, but we can only amend.
“But, like I said, most of the issues you have raised here, like zones replacing states, that’s another euphemism for going back to the regions.
“We will look into that if that is what majority of our people want.
“You talked about devolution of powers. The preponderance of views we have received so far is that those 68 items are very wide and need to shed some weight and move them to the Concurrent Legislative List.”
He also expressed his opinion on the call by some persons for the scrapping of the upper legislative chamber.
According to him, the country cannot practise unicameral legislature considering its large population.
“One of the issues raised by #EndSARS protesters was that they should abolish the Senate and merge us with the House of Representatives.
