Traditional rulers under the aegis of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria on Thursday visited the Senate for a revisit of their request.
Two months ago, the traditional rulers had lost out at the Upper Chamber after making presentations to both Chambers of the National Assembly on the need to give traditional rulers advisory roles in governance.
However, when both chambers voted in March on the 68 bills seeking amendments to some provisions of the 1999 Constitution, while the request of the traditional rulers scaled through in the House of Representatives, it failed in the Senate.
Making move for reconsideration of the request, the traditional rulers led by the chairman of the forum and the Etsu of Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar, paid a courtesy visit to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan.
Etsu Nupe in his presentation during the visit told Lawan and the Senate Leadership that they were taken aback by the rejection of their request by the Senate when voting on critical issues raised for Constitution review was done in the Senate.
“Our request for an advisory constitutional role in governance listed as item 67 out of the total 68 items considered, was voted for in the House of Representatives but rejected in the Senate.
“Based on information gotten from the various media platforms, out of the 93 Senators present as at the time of voting in the Senate, 63 voted for and 30 against which as widely reported didn’t make up to the required 2/3 (73) votes.
“We are not happy with the situation of making it in one chamber and failing in the other.
“As a way forward, we decided to visit the Senate leadership for reconsideration of the request in the general interest of Nigeria and Nigerians as far as intelligence gathering on security at a local level is concerned,” he said.
In his response, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, said the upper chamber will revisit the request with a view to getting the required 63 votes
He said, “We hold you in high regards as our royal fathers and know-how relevant you are in your various domains as far as the issue of checkmating crimes and criminalities are concerned.
“The Senate will revisit the request with a view to getting the 10 required votes to the 63 earlier gotten.
“But in doing that, lobbying and consultations will have to be intensified on those who are yet to buy into the idea of an advisory constitutional role for traditional rulers in governance.
“Your visit here today, is more or less, kick-starting the process”, he added.
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