THE Senate yesterday demanded return of the original copy of the Fourth Alteration Bill sent to President Goodluck Jonathan for his assent, following his refusal to sign the document based on certain observations.

Also, the House of Representatives has commenced action on Jonathan’s letter in which he gave reasons for refusing assent to the 1999 Constitution (fourth) alteration Bill, as Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal yesterday, officially referred the matter to the House’s ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review.

The National Assembly may be preparing to override the President’s veto, as the Senate’s committee on the review has already gone for a two-day retreat following the rejection.

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who earlier presided , pointed out that the letter from the President which was referred to the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review, stated that the letter would be accompanied by the copy of the rejected bill.

“Unfortunately, the Bill was not returned with the letter and we could not proceed because we would like to see the returned bill.

The committee has asked me to raise this point, to request the President of the Senate, to ask the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to send back the original copy of the bill as sent to him, especially the signature page to enable us proceed with our work.

Since it has been indicated in his own letter that the letter was accompanied by the Bill, we would like to have the bill in its original form”, Ekweremadu said.

Senate, President , David Mark, who took over later, pledged to communicate Jonathan , requesting return of the bill with the signature page as suggested by his colleagues.

He said he would indicate in the letter to be sent to the President the need for the bill to be returned as soon as possible.

“There is a bit of urgency of this. So, in the communication, we should indicate the need to have it at the earliest possible time. We cannot put a time frame like ‘within two days or three days’, that would not be correct.

The motion, as it is, is a correct one without the time frame,” Mark noted.

Procedurally, where a sitting President communicates his decision to withhold assent on a Bill, the parliament is expected to override the veto through a resolution supported by two-third majority of members of both chambers of the National Assembly for such a Bill to become law

President Jonathan has declined to give assent to the proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution due to some alterations which he noted were not made in the best interest of the nation.

For those who voiced their anger over the President’s action while confiding to newsmen, the document can never be discarded especially after so much effort has been committed to producing it.

For them, far reaching proposals have been approved which would be of great benefits to the Nigerian people, and that the president may have been misadvised by his Attorney General into withholding assent to the Bill.