Constitution Amendment: FG May Lose 44 Of Its 68 Powers In Exclusive Legislative List — Niyi Akintola SAN

THE long-awaited devolution of critical powers from the Federal
Government to the states appears imminent with the current effort
at amending the much-criticised 1999 Constitution, a legal
luminary, Chief Niyi Akintola SAN has said.

Akintola made the disclosure in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital,
on Saturday, during an interview on a privately owned radio
station, Fresh FM.

The senior lawyer, who is a lead consultant to the National
Assembly on the ongoing constitution review exercise, also said
opinion across the country is overwhelmingly in favour of the
formation of state police.

He disclosed that 98 per cent of the memoranda submitted to the
constitution review committee from across the six geopolitical
zones supported state police, a development he attributed to the
effect of the security challenges across the country.

Akintola, who is a governorship aspirant under the banner of APC
in Oyo State, said by the time the constitution amendment exercise
is concluded, the 68 awesome powers donated to the occupier of the
office the president in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the
constitution on the Exclusive Legislative List may come down to
24.

Distribution of powers between the federal and the state
governments recognised as the federating units has been
overwhelmingly weighted in favour of the Federal Government,
leaving the states helpless on some germane issues.

Items such as taxation of incomes, railway, police, public
holidays, stamp duties, resource mining and 62 others are reserved
only for the Federal Government in the constitution. The legal
icon, however, said the final decision on the constitution review
exercise rests on the National Assembly as he and other consultants
could only make recommendations distilled from the submitted
memoranda.

He chided the state governors for not exercising to the
fullness, the limited powers the constitution, however imperfect it
is, gives to them. For instance, he said states are empowered to
generate as little as five megawatts of electricity to catalyse the
industrialisaiton of their areas without waiting for the Federal
Government.

On the arrest of the Yoruba Nation campaigner, My Sunday
Adeyemo, popularly called Sunday Igboho, he cautioned government
against demonising Igboho, saying no criminal charges have been
preferred against him in any court in the country.

He stressed that the travail of Igboho remains the travail of
every Yoruba person, saying his campaign for Yoruba
self-determination is lawful under the Geneva Convention of 1949.
He lampooned officials of the Department of State Service (SSS)
over the Gestapo manner they invaded Igboho’s residence on July 1,
saying they have shot themselves in the foot. By allegedly blocking
the CCTV cameras at his residence during the night raid, the DSS
also blocked evidence to support its claim that the guns paraded
alongside the 12 arrested aides of the Yoruba Nation agitator were
actually kept by him.

Asked why the Yoruba intelligentsia have not been speaking on
the ordeal of Igboho at the hands of the Federal Government, he
said the struggle by Igboho, though legitimate, lacks the requisite
intellectual flavour.

He added that although the Yoruba elite were initially avoiding
being blackmailed, they are now working underground to help Igboho
out of his present condition. He gave examples of freedom fighters
like Nelson Mandela who were vilified by authorities in their
countries but later became national heroes, assuring the Yoruba
people that Igboho would not be abandoned in his hour of need.

THE long-awaited devolution of critical powers from the Federal
Government to the states appears imminent with the current effort
at amending the much-criticised 1999 Constitution, a legal
luminary, Chief Niyi Akintola SAN has said.

Akintola made the disclosure in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital,
on Saturday, during an interview on a privately owned radio
station, Fresh FM.

The senior lawyer, who is a lead consultant to the National
Assembly on the ongoing constitution review exercise, also said
opinion across the country is overwhelmingly in favour of the
formation of state police.

He disclosed that 98 per cent of the memoranda submitted to the
constitution review committee from across the six geopolitical
zones supported state police, a development he attributed to the
effect of the security challenges across the country.

Akintola, who is a governorship aspirant under the banner of APC
in Oyo State, said by the time the constitution amendment exercise
is concluded, the 68 awesome powers donated to the occupier of the
office the president in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the
constitution on the Exclusive Legislative List may come down to
24.

Distribution of powers between the federal and the state
governments recognised as the federating units has been
overwhelmingly weighted in favour of the Federal Government,
leaving the states helpless on some germane issues.

Items such as taxation of incomes, railway, police, public
holidays, stamp duties, resource mining and 62 others are reserved
only for the Federal Government in the constitution. The legal
icon, however, said the final decision on the constitution review
exercise rests on the National Assembly as he and other consultants
could only make recommendations distilled from the submitted
memoranda.

He chided the state governors for not exercising to the
fullness, the limited powers the constitution, however imperfect it
is, gives to them. For instance, he said states are empowered to
generate as little as five megawatts of electricity to catalyse the
industrialisaiton of their areas without waiting for the Federal
Government.

On the arrest of the Yoruba Nation campaigner, My Sunday
Adeyemo, popularly called Sunday Igboho, he cautioned government
against demonising Igboho, saying no criminal charges have been
preferred against him in any court in the country.

He stressed that the travail of Igboho remains the travail of
every Yoruba person, saying his campaign for Yoruba
self-determination is lawful under the Geneva Convention of 1949.
He lampooned officials of the Department of State Service (SSS)
over the Gestapo manner they invaded Igboho’s residence on July 1,
saying they have shot themselves in the foot. By allegedly blocking
the CCTV cameras at his residence during the night raid, the DSS
also blocked evidence to support its claim that the guns paraded
alongside the 12 arrested aides of the Yoruba Nation agitator were
actually kept by him.

Asked why the Yoruba intelligentsia have not been speaking on
the ordeal of Igboho at the hands of the Federal Government, he
said the struggle by Igboho, though legitimate, lacks the requisite
intellectual flavour.

He added that although the Yoruba elite were initially avoiding
being blackmailed, they are now working underground to help Igboho
out of his present condition. He gave examples of freedom fighters
like Nelson Mandela who were vilified by authorities in their
countries but later became national heroes, assuring the Yoruba
people that Igboho would not be abandoned in his hour of need.