Constitution amendment: Osun assembly rejects independent candidature

The Osun State House of Assembly has rejected a constitutional amendment to provide for independent candidates in elections.

The house also stood down amendments to strengthen local government administration in Nigeria as contained in the alteration of Sections 7, 318 and part 1 of the fifth schedule of the constitution.

It also stood down the decision on the amendment seeking the abrogation of Joint Local Government Account (Section 162), preferring to subject it to a public hearing.

A statement by the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Strategy, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, issued after the session, summed up the decisions of the house by stating that it “approved 10 provisions, stepped down two others and rejected three of the provisions in the proposed amendment of the 1999 Constitution.”

“The Parliamentarian at the Yes/No vote proceeding unanimously rejected provision for independent candidature in elections ( section 7, 65, 106, 131, 177 and 228), Constitution Alteration Bill (section 9) and the period during which the president or governor shall lay the appropriation bill (section 81 and 121),” the statement said.

Speaking at the end of the proceeding, the speaker of the assembly, Najeem Salaam, said the two bills were put in abeyance for a public hearing, “so as to get the inputs and protect the interest of the numerous stakeholders in the matters contained in the sections.”