Majority of the members of Senate said they are ready to meet Presidency in court over annulation of all the proposed amendments to the 1999 constitution.
On their turn, members of the House of Representatives repeated that the legislators met the constitutional requirements on the process.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has called on the Senate President, David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal to stop moves by members of the National Assembly to go ahead with the constitution amendment process.
The senators who responded to the case filed by the president to annul the amendments carried out on the constitution vowed to apply for a faster hearing when the National Assembly is served with court processes so that the matter would be bestowed before the end of the 7th senate.
In addition, the senators said as they were waiting to be served the court processes, the Presidency should return the initial copy of the bill sent to it.
Ita Enang, chairman of Senate Committee on Rules and Business, said the choice of the Presidency to challenge the constitution amendment in court was a good development.
He added that the action of President Jonathan was a sign that he was a patriotic Nigerian interested in the good of the country.
Meanwhile, he faulted the time it took the Presidency to raise objection to certain aspects of the amendment, underlying that it would be the duty of the court to control whether the National Assembly followed the required legal procedure in the amendment process.
Enang said: “I do not at all quarrel when anybody goes to court, I quarrel when you start calling press conferences and abusing the other party. Was the Presidency not party or aware when these matters were available for public hearing? Did they come for the public hearing to make any of the points they are making in court.
”I will refuse to see the action of the presidency as a slight because this is what we passed, the Supreme Court Additional Jurisdiction Act, it is only that it is coming too late in the day, but we should apply for accelerated hearing; it is not a slight, I don’t see it that way even though some of my colleagues may see it that way.
“At every stage during the hearing of the matter, the Attorney General, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Special Adviser to Mr President on National Assembly Affairs, all of them were there at the various hearing.
“But at the same time, if the President feels that the provisions in the constitution amendment is going to whittle down the powers of the executive and that he is not going to leave a weak or embattled executive and he is challenging it, I think it is a show of faith in the country that he does not want to leave a burden on the incoming government.”
President Jonathan vetoed the amendment on Monday, April 13.
Some senators said that they have two options either the institution approves the position of Jonathan or goes ahead to override it.
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