The amendments recently carried out on the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly cannot become law and operational without the assent of the president, a Federal High Court has ruled.
Justice Okechukwu Okeke held on Monday in Lagos that the amendment would remain inchoate until approved by the president.
The 2010 Constitutional Amendment Act is null and void and will remain void until it is sent to the president for his approval, he said.
Okeke delivered a judgment in a suit filed by Olisa Agbakoba challenging the claim of the National Assembly that the president’s assent is not required on the amendments.
The National Assembly and the Attorney-General of the Federation are defendants in the suit.
Agbakoba, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, had argued that the refusal of the National Assembly to forward the constitution to the president for his assent was illegal.
His counsel, Emeka Chijioke, had prayed the court to declare that the Constitution (First Amendment ) Act 2010 passed by the National Assembly should not take effect as law without the assent of the president.
Chijioke also argued that in view of the provisions of Section 58 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, the assent of the president was a prerequisite to the amendments becoming law.
According to him, unless the assent of the president is overridden pursuant to Section 58 (5) of the Constitution, the president’s assent is sacrosanct before the amendments can become law.
Counsel to the National Assembly, Johnson Usman, had, however, prayed the court to strike out the suit on the grounds that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain it.
He also argued that Agbakoba lacked the competence to institute the suit, adding that the suit disclosed no reasonable cause of action against the AGF.
Usman told newsmen that his client would appeal against the judgment.
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