House of Reps passes State Police Bill after disruption over manual voting

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a constitutional amendment bill seeking to establish state police across Nigeria. The legislative milestone followed a rowdy voting session triggered by disagreements over the counting methodology.

The bill was read for the third time and passed after securing a near-unanimous vote. Out of the lawmakers present, 289 voted in favour of the decentralisation measure, none voted against it, and one member abstained.

Electronic voting failure forces contentious manual count

Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House, announced during plenary on Thursday that 290 lawmakers were present in the chamber, successfully meeting the statutory quorum required to proceed with constitutional amendments.

Speaker Abbas informed members that the chamber’s electronic voting system was non-functional, which necessitated a manual voting process on the floor of the House. He then presented a brief synopsis of the 18-clause bill, which outlines the framework for the establishment, regulation, and operation of state police commands across the federation.

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Lawmakers in favour of the bill were instructed to raise their hands, with parliamentary clerks counting 289 members in support.

Lawmakers protest manual counting transparency

The manual verification process sparked immediate tension within the chamber. Several lawmakers openly protested the hand-count method, describing it as archaic and lacking sufficient transparency for a critical constitutional division.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense, culminating in an outburst from an agitated lawmaker who shouted, “Are we primary school students showing the whole world our weaknesses?”

The procedural friction mirrored objections raised earlier in the legislative day. Hon. Bashir Usman, representing a constituency from Kaduna State, had raised a point of order objecting to the consideration of the report.

Procedural objections overridden to clear legislative hurdle

Hon. Usman argued that members had only received the document earlier that morning, leaving insufficient time to rigorously study the 18-clause constitutional amendment report. He urged the leadership to step down the item to allow for a proper, detailed review by lawmakers.

Despite the procedural objections and the subsequent friction during the division, the House leadership pushed forward to the consideration, debate, and eventual passage of the bill at its third reading.

The bill will now progress to the Senate for concurrence before heading to the State Houses of Assembly as part of the rigorous constitutional amendment process.