Constitutional Amendment: Ekiti Assembly Approves Judicial Autonomy, Establishment Of State Police

Ekiti State House of Assembly on Tuesday approved the creation of state police and state judicial council in the ongoing fifth alteration to the Amendment to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The assembly, presided over by the Speaker, Funminiyi Afuye, also aligned with the National Assembly on the alteration to stipulated rules on how the principal officers of the Houses of Assembly should be removed from offices to ensure stability in the system.

The constitutional amendment bill was transmitted to the House of Assembly from the National Assembly in March 2022 for input.

The assembly Leader of Government Business, Gboyega Aribisogan, told journalists that the lawmakers ratified the alteration to the issue of law reform in the country for radical improvement in the qualities of laws that will guide the three arms of government.

Aribisogan said: “At the plenary today, the Assembly approved some areas being considered for amendment to the 1999 constitution by the National Assembly. What we did was just a concurrence to the amendments and not further alterations to what had been done by the National Assembly.

“These include the approval for the Law mandating the state to have state police to improve security across the county. We also approved a law stating the procedure to be followed for the removal of the principal officers of the Houses of Assembly to ensure stability and improve the quality of governance.

“The Assembly also unanimously approved the alteration to the constitution allowing the State to have a law backing the establishment of the State Judicial Council just like the National Judicial Council at the federal level so that the Judiciary can be autonomous.

“The Assembly also approved the amendment to the proper regulation of the law reform to ensure that quality laws are made to guarantee good legislation and robust governance and equality in the system,” he said.

Also at the plenary, the Ekiti State Economic Development Council (Amendment) Bill 2022 which deals with the composition and other matters of the Council was also passed, while a bill for the creation of additional three local council development areas and two other bills were considered by the lawmakers.