WIFE of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, yesterday, stormed the Senate and House of Representatives chambers of the National Assembly to observe the formal laying of report of the committee on the review of amendments to the 1999 Constitution.
Aisha Buhari, who was at the Senate midway through plenary to witness the laying of the report of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, was accompanied by the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen; Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, and a delegation of Nigerian women.
She was at the Senate in solidarity and in support of a provision in the Alteration Bill that seeks permanent legislative seats for women in the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly and to throw weight behind gender bill that seeks affirmative action for women.
The bill recommends a total of 105 seats for women in the National Assembly, including 36 in the Senate and 68 in the House of Representatives.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, immediately after referring a bill for an Act to amend the Federal High Court Act Cap F134 to the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, suspended Rule 12(1) — Privileges of the Floor— and invoked Rule 1(b) to admit the First Lady and her delegation into the chamber at exactly 11:58 am.
Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman, Senate Committee on the Alteration to the provisions of the Constitution, Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central), moved at 12.06pm that the Senate should receive the report of the Constitution Review Committee on the 5th Alteration Bill, 2022.
The motion was seconded by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Senator Betty Apiafi (PDP, Rivers).
In his remarks after the report was laid, Lawan said the visit of the First Lady was to show support for a bill to have more female parliamentarians at the federal and state legislatures.
He said: This, we believe, will help in nation building as such significant participation by our women will add value to not only legislation but also the much desired and needed national development.
“For us as a nation, our motto is unity and faith, peace and progress. We believe that all hands must be on deck to ensure the participation of each and every segment of our society.”
Lawan assured the First Lady that the Ninth Assembly, while voting on the amendments to the constitution as contained in the ad-hoc committee’s report, would ensure that women participation in governance was commensurate with their population.
In the House of Representatives, the speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, in his brief welcome remarks, confirmed that the First Lady was in the Green Chamber to play solidarity with constitutional amendments that promote women cause.
The special committee had received a total of 187 memoranda, with 1, 909 specific recommendations from across the country.
The House has slated March, 2 and 3, 2022, to vote on the recommendations.
The amendment sought, among others, to “establish the Office of the Attorney–General of the Federation and of the State separate from the Office of the Minister of Justice or Commissioners for Justice of the state in order to make the Offices Attorneys-General Independent and insulated from partisanship, provide reserved quota for women.”
Briefing journalists at the end of the plenary, the House spokesman, Benjamin Kalu, said the amendments were to deepen the democratic practice in Nigeria.
Referencing diaspora voting, independent candidacy and separation of office of Minister of Justice from that of Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Kalu said it was good to allow more political participation of the citizens during elections and to also separate politics from judicial matters