Nigerian senate backs move to slash president’s powers

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By CGTN's Jerry Owilli

Nigeria’s upper house of parliament on Wednesday backed a series of constitutional amendments that could reduce the powers of the presidency and boost the legislature.

The head of the country’s senate Bukola Saraki – who is pushing the changes – said the amendments would help boost the West African country’s development, though Reuters reports a senior official in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to say this would amount to “a very unhealthy” power grab.

Bukola Saraki raises the gavel after he was elected as the senate president of the 8th Nigeria Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria June 9, 2015. /Reuters Photo

The presidency and the senate have had a long-running supremacy battle, going as far back as two years ago.

“What we have done today definitely is to lay the foundation for a far-reaching reform of our political, economic and social development,” Saraki said after the Senate vote.

The amendments must still be approved by the lower house and two thirds of Nigeria’s 36 regional state parliaments and then be signed off by the president.

The measures include providing certain legal immunity to members of the legislature, reducing the president’s ability to withhold assent for a bill passed by parliament, and removing law-making powers from the executive.

The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, is due to vote on the proposed amendments on Thursday.

President Buhari has been away from his country for more than two months now after he travelled to London for medical treatment for an undisclosed disease. This is his second medical trip abroad this year, having also spent about two months away in the first.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks during German President Joachim Gauck's visit to the State House in Abuja, Nigeria February 11, 2016. /Reuters Photo

Saraki, 54, hails from Buhari’s All Progressives Congress, but he assumed the senate presidency in 2015 without the party’s support but with the backing of the opposition.

Saraki has often been a thorn in the side of the presidency, with parliament repeatedly blocking presidential appointments to key positions.

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