|14th January, 2018 |Ukorebi Esien
The speaker, Cross River state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. John Gaul Lebo and his colleagues in the house especially that of Yakurr 1 constituency Hon. Nelson Ofem are likely to vote against Local Government Autonomy when the house finally decides to sit to cast their votes on the Proposed alterations of the ongoing constitutional amendment as proposed by the National Assembly NASS.
Other members of Cross River State House of Assembly that may likely vote against some of the alterations proposed by NASS include Boki 1 and Calabar South 1 state constituency represented by Hon.Dr. Itam Abang and Hon. Okon Ephriam respectively who may likely vote against independent candidature as proposed by alteration 7.
Akpabuyo state constituency represented by Hon. Lady Elizabeth Ironbar may also vote against alteration 8 that has to do with the provisions of the constitution to change the name Nigeria Police Force to "Nigeria Police'' to reflect their core mandate of providing civil services; and for related matters.
and alteration 12 as regards including the establishment and core functions of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps; and other related matters in the constitution.
Prominent among those who will vote against the proposed alterations is Hon. Nelson Ofem who will like vote against the following alterations:
A. Alteration 2: A bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 for the funding of the Houses of Assembly of States directly from the Consolidated Fund of the State; and other matters related
B. Alteration 3: A bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to abrogate the State Joint Local Government Accounts and empower each Local Government Council to maintain its own special account and make provisions from savings in the Federation Account before distribution to other levels of government; and for related matters.
C. Alteration 7: A bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to provide for Independent Candidature in elections; and for related matters.
TheDailyNews came up with this conclusions based on the submissions tendered by the 25 state constituencies in Cross River State during the recent Town Hall meetings held in Calabar. The speaker had also told pressmen that members will vote inline with what their various constituencies had submitted at the town hall meeting.
Recall that Mr. Ewah who was the spoke man for Yakurr 1 constituency was seriously booed at as the Crowd shouted and threw sachet and bottle water containers at him forcing him to unceremoniously leave the stage because despite the unanimous support of the 25 constituencies in Cross River State, Yakurr I are opposing alterations 2, 3, 7 of the 15 alterations made by NASS particularly, the idea of Financial Independence of the 36 States Houses of Assembly, Local Government Autonomy and Independent Candidature... Interestingly, this wasn't a consensus of Yakurr I.
Speaking at the event Speaker Lebo had promised that the voting process will be transparent, he said the State House had set up a Committee to listen to all views presented at the public hearing which will be submitted to the Assembly.
"There is a Rapporteur Committee that will consider the report and will prepare a report that will be presented at the Committee at plenary. From the plenary, we are going to go into vote; the voting will be open and will be done clause by clause, item by item and member by member".
"We won't put the question in nays and ayes; it will be individual, for each member to now represent what his constituents voted for today", He said.
Ukorebi Esien blogs and Edits for TDN
A Social Media Strategist, Politics Blogger,
Telling the Nigerian story one article at a time.Views are mine
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