The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, on Monday defended the report of its Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitution Review, which rejected state police, single tenure and immunity for the President and state governors.
Ihedioha, who is the Chairman of the committee, said the panel simply adopted the wishes of Nigerians, as expressed during the November 10, 2012 People's Public Sessions on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in compiling the report.
He spoke in Abuja at a forum with Civil Society Organisations, where he explained how the ad-hoc committee came by its recommendations.
According to him, the public sessions were held in the 360 federal constituencies in the country, where Nigerians voted on a 43-item template on the issues they wanted to be included in the new constitution.
He added that the panel complied with the decisions of Nigerians because the House had earlier thrown the review process open to participation by the people.
Ihedioha spoke further, "It is very convenient for people to sit in the comfort of their offices or to stay in townships like Abuja or Lagos and pontificate on what Nigerians want on a particular issue.
"I will recommend the results of the People's Public Sessions to all the pundits, commentators, and indeed, all the federalists in our midst.
"The result is a sound and almost unanimous rejection of some of the ideas marketed in the media as given on many issues. It shows that Nigerians have their own ideas on how they should be governed.
"It reflected the interpretation of peoples' experiences at the local level. The people did not agree with the very loud views of their political leaders on many issues."
The panel had laid its report before the House during plenary on Thursday last week.
Giving details on how Nigerians voted on some of the issues, the deputy speaker said on immunity, for example, 225 federal constituencies voted to remove criminal immunity for the President, Vice-President, governors and their deputies.
He added that 132 constituencies supported its retention, while three were undecided.
The report indicated that there was a similar voting pattern on state police.
The Punch