8th November, 2010
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos this morning dismissed the preliminary objection filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and the National Assembly in the suit filed by Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, challenging the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
Agbakoba in the suit is contending that the constitution cannot be validly amended if the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria fails to append his signature.
Delivering his ruling this morning, the presiding judge, Justice Okechukwu Okeke, said the purported amendment of the Constitution is incomplete until the president has appended his signature.
He, however, said that if the president fails to append his signature in accordance with Section 9(2) of the Constitution, the amendment should be returned to the National Assembly to make it valid.
Justice Okeke, therefore, concluded that the current amendment having failed to comply with Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution is null and void.
—Akin Kuponiyi
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