From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The House of Representatives has rejected a bill seeking to alter the 1999 Constitution to provide for the rotation of the President and Vice among the six geo-political zones.

The bill sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, was rejected alongside six other constitution alteration bills at plenary yesterday.

Nonetheless, the House resolved to represent the seven bills so that they could be considered separately on their individual merit.

The six other bills rejected included proposed legislation  to establish a separate commission for the registration  and regulation of political parties, bill for  the establishment  of the Office of the State Auditors-General for Local Governments and the Federal Capital Territory Area Councils, and bill to Create Ughelli East Local Government Area in Delta State.

Others are bills to raise the  number of judges of the Federal High Court to not less than 100, Bill to expand the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to include Admiralty Jurisdiction, including shipping and navigation on the River Niger, River Benue  among others  and bill to empower the National Judicial Council to fix and review the salaries, allowances and other emolument of judicial officers and judiciary staff in conjunction with the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission.

Of all the rejected bills, only the one on zoning was debated.

The parliament had set aside its rules to enable it consider the seven proposed legislations seeking alterations to different sections of the constitution.

However, majority of the lawmakers, who spoke on the power rotation bill, kicked against it, saying it would be setting a dangerous precedent.

Deputy Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki noted that the issue it seeks to address has been addressed by the Federal Character Commission.

“In Nigeria, often when we talk about hiring people, we talk about competence. I believe this issue we are trying to create here is adequately covered by our constitution. We have a commission called the Federal Character Commission that was created primarily to take care of every zone of Nigeria.

“When we talk of giving people jobs to do;  we are talking about competence, we are looking at ability. Indirectly in every political party there is an arrangement for zoning. I believe that this is something we should not put in our constitution. We should allow it as it is,”

Madaki said.

Similarly,  Sada Soli contended that that rotating the office of President and vice president, it will encourage mediocrity over merit

“Look how diverse this country is, the quality of people we have in this country,  in all facet of human endeavours,  to narrow it to say that the presidency is narrow to these geopolitical zones.

“If that geopolitical zone has its own shot the next one will take about 48 years,  regardless of the quality of people we have in that zone, this country will lose out on the opportunity of bringing people that will render public service for this country just because of regional affiliation,” Soli stated.

On the flipside, Ali Isa, minority whip, endorsed the bill, noting that it would address marginalisation and promote fairness.

Clement Jimbo also said the bill, if passed into law, will  cure the age long injustice against minority groups in the country. He argued that it is imperative  to amend the Constitution that includes power rotation so that every section can have an opportunity to produce the President.