President Muhammadu Buhari would no longer be signing any bills for the Fourth Alteration to the 1999 Constitution.
According to the Punch, this was said by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang
Enang said: “If the President has not signed any bill as of today – and he must have written the National Assembly informing them – it is because the time allowed by law has elapsed.
“It is no more available for signing. And I know that the President assented to some of the bills that were submitted and sent the rest back to the National Assembly.
“Anyone that has not been assented to, the time constitutionally allowed has elapsed and the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives must have been communicated.”
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A lot of 2017 and the past year has been spent amending the 1999 constitution with the Punch reporting that the Senate and the House suggested 33 amendments to the constitution, but ultimately, only 17 were passed
In the end, 12 of these amendments hit Buhari’s desk for assent and as of today, the President has signed only 5 of the 12
According to the Punch, the full list of the 12 bills reads thus: Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 2 (Authorisation of Expenditure in Absence of Appropriation); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 4 (Financial Autonomy of State Legislatures); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 8 (The Legislature); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 9 (Political Parties and Electoral Matters); and Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 15 (The Nigeria Police Force).
There were also Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 16 (Restriction of Tenure of President and Governor); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 20 (Submission from the Judiciary); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 21 (Determination of Pre-Election Matters); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 22 (Consequential Amendment on Civil Defence); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 24 (Procedure for Overriding Presidential Veto in Constitutional Alteration); Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 27 (Reduction of Age for Election); and the Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill No 28 (Timeline for the Presentation of Appropriation Bill).