The National Assembly has agreed to remove the controversial clauses in the amendments to the Constitution under the Fourth Alteration Act, 2015, which it passed this year.
It would be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan had withheld his assent to the amendments to the 1999 Constitution and the AGF instituted a suit against the lawmakers to annul the amendments.
The lawmakers’ agreed to amend the Act in an out of court settlement between the representatives of the executive and legislative arms of government in Abuja on May 26.
Parties agreed that the views of the president be considered and effected by deleting some alterations in the Alteration Act, 2015, for which the president had withheld his assent.
The six-point of settlement in the suit between the Attorney-General of the Federation and the National Assembly, was made public on Wednesday.
According to the terms, NASS agreed to delete alterations made to Section 8 of the Principal Act on referendum in respect of state creation.
It also agreed to delete alterations made to Section 9 of the Principal Act dispensing with the assent of the president in the process of constitution amendment.
NASS also agreed to delete alterations made in Sections 45a-45b of the Act relating to Free Basic Education and Maternal Healthcare Services.
It also deleted alterations made to Sections 150, 174, 195 and 211 of the Principal Act relating to the separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
This also applies to State Attorney-General and Commissioner For Justice.
Accordingly, the suit of the Attorney-General in Suit No: SC/214/ 2015 before the Supreme Court was withdrawn following a motion for discontinuance.
The court accordingly struck out the case.
It was also agreed that President Goodluck Jonathan shall assent to the Fourth Alteration Act, 2015.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Wednesday said it had arrived at an amicable resolution of the dispute with the National Assembly (NASS) over the constitution amendments.
At the resumed hearing of the case, Mr Bayo Ojo (SAN), counsel to the federal government, informed the court that parties had met and settled the matter.
Ojo said that in view of the agreement reached by the parties, he would like to file a fresh motion for discontinuance of the suit later in the day.
“The parties met yesterday and both made concessions and were able to reach agreement on the terms of settlement.
Mr Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), counsel to the NASS, corroborated Ojo’s submission, saying that it was true that the parties had settled.
He urged the court to strike out the suit outright on account of the parties’ agreement to settle their differences.
Ojo , however, opposed the oral application, explaining that he needed to brief President Jonathan after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting on the settlement terms.
He urged the court to grant him an adjournment to enable him to return to the court to file the notice of discontinuance.
“Under Order 50 Rule 2 (1), within time, that is 14 days, to file the notice of discontinuance without necessary seeking leave of the court to do so,’’ Ojo prayed the court.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, who presided, however, ruled that the sitting be stood down till 4 p.m., to enable Ojo brief Jonathan and return to file the discontinuance motion.
Ojo had on Monday sought to amend the originating summons which he filed on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
He had sought to substitute the AGF with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the plaintiff in the suit.
Awomolo had opposed the application on the ground that it was “incurably defective.’’
Awomolo argued that the proper party in the suit was the President of Nigeria, who was not before the court and, therefore, urged the court to strike out the suit.
Responding to Awomolo’s submission, Ojo argued that his application, dated May 20, and brought to court on Monday was to cure the inherent defectiveness of his originating summons.
The CJN, however, disagreed with Ojo, saying that even if the AGF was replaced with the President, the originating process would still be defective since the supporting affidavit was not sworn to by the president.
This prompted the court to direct the parties to go back and reconcile and report their out-of-court settlement on Wednesday.
In the originating summons filed on behalf of the President and Attorney-General of the Federation, Ojo had argued that the amendment passed by NASS did not have the mandatory requirement of four-fifth majority of members.
The government also requested the Supreme Court to give an order nullifying and setting aside Sections 3, 4, 12, 14, 21, 23, 36, 39, 40, 43 and 44 of the Fourth Alteration Act, 2015 purportedly passed by the legislature.
Ojo argued that the defendant was making moves, with the tacit consent of state legislators, to employ certain provisions of the Constitution to pass the purported Fourth Alteration Act, 2015 into Law.
According to the plaintiff’s counsel, the Fourth Alteration Act 2015 contains many proposed amendments inconsistent with the spirit of federalism, separation of powers and checks and balances.
He argued that it would be in the interest of justice to grant all prayers sought because most of the provisions of the purported Fourth Alteration Act 2015 are contrary to public policy and good governance.
The National Assembly had before the filing of the suit by the Federal Government and Thursday’s order for the maintenance of status quo, said after 30 days, it would go ahead to override the president’s veto.
