Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Nigerian Bar Association has rejected the emergency rule imposed on Rivers State by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, arguing that its ratification by the National Assembly via a mere voice vote has rendered the exercise unconditional.
NBA National President, Afam Osigwe (SAN), who featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today, faulted the National Assembly for endorsing the action through an unconstitutional process.
He insisted that the constitutional requirement of two-thirds majority must be met for the declaration to be valid.
According to him, the National Assembly cannot decide the fate of Rivers State through a voice vote.
The NBA’s President spoke hours after the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, also rejected the emergency rule, and demanded its reversal.
Former Senate President and the Chairman of PDP’s Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara, in a statement on Sunday, faulted the National Assembly for endorsing the action through voice vote, describing the action as travesty of justice and rape of democracy which must not be allowed.
There has also been a renewed agitation by the senator representing Bayelsa West, Seriake Dickson; Senator Ireti Kingibe, representing the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, that the decision should be overturned.
The NBA said that the failure of the National Assembly to follow the constitutional process in ratifying the emergency rule had made it illegal.
Osigwe said, “The Constitution has said that the National Assembly shall by two-thirds majority ratify it. It means that for you to ensure that the Constitutional provision has been adhered to, you must indicate the number of persons who attended the sittings and the number of persons who voted for or against or who abstained from voting.
“So you can’t clear that by a voice vote. So, a voice vote falls short of the Constitutional requirement because, by a voice vote, you are unable to know whether you have met the Constitutional threshold for ratification.
“So the use of voice vote in both chambers also underscores the unconstitutionality of the whole action. So even that ‘ratification’ by the National Assembly does not meet the Constitutional requirement, and it is in itself unconstitutional.”
Meanwhile, the emergency rule and its endorsement via a voice vote, have continued to generate outrage and nation-wide condemnation.
