by Alexander O. Onukwue

Of the Constitution Review bills passed by the Senate on Wednesday 26th July, the assent to Independet Candidacy was perhaps one of the “major” ones. No less authority than the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, heralded the vote announcement with that description.

If the impact of the Senate’s proceedings would be aptly disseminated by the media in the coming weeks, it should be appreciated that Saraki’s Senate made historical strides by the amendments Iit passed today. The other thing that will not be too difficult to realize will be that Saraki and his colleagues have scored huge points for themselves.

They passed a review on the abilities of the Executive to make laws, and placed deadlines for the Executive to turn in its lists of Ministers. The Review also involved the small matter of granting immunity to legislators for their utterances at plenary and committee meetings. Both articles would put some measure of urgency and constraint on political parties, especially on the matter of picking Ministers.

But, as Saraki’s tweet particularly expressed it, it was the power now granted to the ambitious personalities that could be the “major” move of this whole Constitution Review process.

The assent to Independent Candidature comes at a time when Nigeria had nearly drifted to a one-party state, save for the Supreme Court’s lifeline to the PDP. With no one yet unsure how the umbrella’s spokes will be bent back to form, the anticipation of 2019 is the beginning of realignment. Even for those in the APC who have not been content with the hands they have been dealt in the past two years, new alliances have not been out of the question.

With Independent Candidature, the job may have got a bit easier for some of these persons, mainly those who feel they have the popularity and deep pockets to go the distance.

It sets up for an interesting coming election cycle. Perhaps INEC will be the most disappointed by this; they had to deal with 45 parties before, it may now grow to 450 personalities.

And who is to say the Senate president cannot be one of the “major” ones?