President Goodluck Jonathan Rejects Constitution Amendment

President Goodluck Jonathan has refused to give assent to some sections of the Nigerian Constitution amended by the National Assembly.

Federal and State lawmakers had approved some sections in the constitution for amendment and sent it to the president for assent.

But President Jonathan vetoed some of the sections and returned it to the National Assembly.

The members of the National Assembly had not foreseen a situation where President Jonathan would refuse to assent to some sections of the constitution they had amended.

President Jonathan wrote to the National Assembly detailing the sections which he refused to approve.

In the letter read by the Senate President, President Jonathan rejected the alteration of section nine of the constitution which removes the approval of the President in the process of constitution amendment.

President Jonathan also rejected the amendment which separated the office of the Attorney General of the Federation from the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General from the Commissioner for Justice in the respective states of the Federation.

For nearly three years, the Seventh National Assembly has been working to amend the constitution spending billions of Naira in the process.

But President Jonathan vetoing some of the amendments is a major setback for Federal lawmakers.

The lawmakers plan to hold a two day retreat to discuss the matter and Nigerians are eager to know what their next action would be.

President Jonathan had lost a re-election an election held on March 28 to the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari.