The Senate will look into the 19 Constitutional Amendment Bills that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, rejected, according to Senate President Ahmad Lawan (retd.).

On Tuesday during the plenary, Lawan announced this.

The President received 35 bills for constitutional amendments from the National Assembly in January.

Yet on Friday of last week, Buhari gave his consent to 16 of the 35 laws.

Lawan pointed out that the Fifth Alteration Bill No. 6, which provides for the financial independence of state Houses of Assembly and the Judiciary, was the most notable of the 16 bills that Buhari signed.

The Fifth Alteration Bill No. 24, which sought an Act to amend the Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution to enable the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly to summon the President and governors to testify on matters on which the National and state Houses of Assembly have the power to make decisions, was the first of the 19 bills Buhari rejected.

The Alteration Bill No. 7 which sought to amend the 1999 Constitution's provisions to compel compliance with legislative summonses was rejected.

The Fifth Amendment Bill No. 29, which aimed to amend the 1999 Constitution's provisions, “to provide for a state of the nation and state-of-the-state address by the President and Governor,” was also rejected

The Fifth Alteration Bill No. 22, which aimed to pass an Act to change the provisions of the 1999 Constitution “to Specify the period within which the President or the governor of a state shall present the Appropriation Bill before the National Assembly or House of Assembly.” was one of the bills rejected

Bill No. 30, which sought to amend the 1999 Constitution's clauses to include previous heads of the National Assembly on the Council of State, was also denied.

Bill No. 14, which sought to amend the 1999 Constitution to transfer fingerprints, identification, and criminal records from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, was also defeated.

Lawan said, “We sent 35 Constitution Amendment bills. Sixteen of them were approved while 19 of them were rejected.

“We will continue to engage the executive and go through the bills and see if there are issues that we can deal with within the short period, we will continue to pursue them.

“But if the issues are cumbersome, we can leave it for the 10th Assembly.”