Rivers emergency rule: We didn’t get 2\3 majority required to approve president’s proclamation in Senate –Tambuwal
Former governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has said that the Senate did not get the constitutional two-thirds majority of members required in approving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s proclamation of State of Emergency in Rivers State.
Last Thursday, the Senate devolved into a closed session to consider the president’s proclamation and, thereafter, during plenary, approved the proclamation via voice votes of members in the chamber.
A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tambuwal, who represents Sokoto South in the 10th Senate, disclosed to Sunday Sun in Abuja, yesterday, that the required two thirds majority, that is 73 senators of 109 senators, did not approve the president’s request, in contravention of Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Tambuwal was in the chamber during the closed session deliberation on the matter before the decision was taken at plenary.
Tambuwal declared: “I will be speaking to you from the point of view of being a lawyer, a member of the Body of Benchers and a life Bencher for that matter and not necessarily as a lawmaker who is a member of the 10th Senate. And, in addition to that, possibly my experience as a former presiding officer, former Speaker of the House of Representatives who presided over a matter such as this in 2013.
“Section 305 of the Constitution is very clear. It is unambiguous, the language is very plain, of the Constitution as to first, how the president can declare a state of emergency and what is required of the legislature, the two chambers – both the Senate and the House of Representatives before passing such a resolution.
“What is required is that you must obtain and have two-thirds of all the members, of either of the two chambers, in support of the resolution.
“In the case of what happened in the Senate, where I belong, I don’t know whether members of your team, who are members of the press corps, had the privilege of checking the (Senate) register to see whether there were up to 72, 73 senators on the floor. From what I saw, there was no such number on the floor on that day.
“So, if you juxtapose that to the requirement of the Constitution which says that the Senate must have two-thirds of its members, all of its members to pass that resolution, in support of it, not just present and voting. No! Supporting it. It means that what was done fell short of the provision of the Constitution.”
Tambuwal also noted that the National Assembly shunned its own precedents in approving the Rivers proclamation.
“Parliament is supposed to be guided by the Constitution, its rules and its precedents.
“State of emergency was declared under President (Olusegun) Obasanjo…two thirds had to be garnered, in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“State of emergency was declared during the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2013, in Borno State. Also in Adamawa and Yobe. We had to garner two thirds.
“So, what stops the current National Assembly from making reference to its own precedents that are domiciled within its own library, within its own records? I can’t understand that. So, it’s part of the problem,” he added.
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