By Nathaniel Zaccheus, Abuja
The Senate has given five State Houses of Assembly until November 15 to communicate their positions on the proposed establishment of State Police, warning that failure to respond could be interpreted as withholding approval for the constitutional amendment.
The affected states are Benue, Oyo, Cross River, Niger and Abia, following confirmation that Kano State has approved the proposal and is transmitting its resolution to the National Assembly.
The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, disclosed this during plenary on Wednesday while briefing lawmakers on the outcome of consultations with the 36 state legislatures.
He said 30 states had initially approved the proposed amendment, exceeding the constitutional requirement of 24 states, representing two-thirds of the 36 State Houses of Assembly.
The approval by Kano subsequently raised the number of supporting states to 31.
Bamidele explained that the constitutional amendment process required passage by the National Assembly, approval by at least two-thirds of state legislatures and presidential assent.
“Three key words are used in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended. The first is passage, the second is approval, and the third is assent,” he said.
He noted that the National Assembly had completed its responsibility by passing the bill and transmitting it to all state legislatures for consideration.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had urged the Senate leadership to set a definite deadline for the outstanding states to declare whether they supported or rejected the proposal.
Akpabio described the proposed establishment of State Police as a significant constitutional development requiring consultation with all parts of the country before the amendment could be forwarded to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
“What I would like you to do is to give a specific timeframe within which the remaining six states should communicate their decisions to us,” he said, before Kano’s approval was announced.
He added that lawmakers needed to know the positions of the remaining assemblies before proceeding with the next stage of the constitutional process.
Responding, Bamidele said the Clerk to the National Assembly had written to all 36 state legislatures on October 15, giving them 30 days to consider the proposal and communicate their decisions.
He said the November 15 deadline was fixed to allow the National Assembly to proceed with transmitting the amendment to the President.
Bamidele warned that any state assembly that failed to communicate its position by the deadline would be deemed to have withheld approval, subject to the constitutional implications of its silence.
“By that date, any State House of Assembly that has not communicated its position will be deemed to have withheld approval, or whatever constitutional implication may arise from its failure to respond,” he said.
He expressed confidence that the remaining states would communicate their decisions before the deadline.
Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau informed the chamber that the Kano State House of Assembly had approved the amendment and was forwarding its resolution to the National Assembly.
“Mr President, I have just been informed that the Kano State House of Assembly has sent its response, and it is being communicated to us,” Barau said.
“There was a delay in the process, but the Kano State legislature has done the needful.”
The proposed constitutional amendment seeks to provide the legal framework for the establishment of state-controlled police services, amid growing calls for decentralised policing to address Nigeria’s security challenges.
