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No fewer than 20 states in the country rejected autonomy for local governments in the fourth amendment to the 1999 Constitution (as amended), passed by the Senate on Wednesday.

Our correspondent, who obtained a copy of the report of the Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution submitted by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu on the floor of the senate, noted that 20 states voted against local government autonomy while 16 states voted in support.

The 20 states who voted against are: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

States who gave the yes votes are: Adamawa, Anambra, Abia, Bauchi, Benue, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto states.

The proposed amendments which was rejected had stated that a local government council not democratically elected shall not be recognised by all authorities and persons and shall not be entitled to any revenue allocation from the Federation Account or the state government.

It shall not also exercise any function exercisable by a local government council under this Constitution or any law for the time being in force; and shall stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years, commencing from the date the members of the council were sworn in.

The report also indicated that the National Assembly has also empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister political parties.

It also made provision for independent candidates in elections.

The extant electoral law stipulates that candidates for elections must be sponsored by political parties. Section 177 has been altered, by inserting a new paragraph that a candidate must be sponsored by political party or he is an independent candidate.

It was further observed that the lawmakers inserted section 225A, which states that INEC can deregister political parties if there is a breach of any of the requirements for registration.

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Constitution review: 20 states reject LG autonomy