What do you make of Nigerian lawmakers, who seem to be afraid of the law? They are inventing a law that will help them disregard the law. You would have thought that they would have been amenable to the law they make, or the law they met in the statute books. But laws are made for good governance and good governance is for the good and happiness of members of the society, who the lawmakers swore to protect.
In the first place, the lawmakers were voted into office for this purpose. It’s interesting that the same lawmakers could be asking to be excused from having to abide by the law and not be prosecuted immediately, if they went afoul of the law. They would rather have other citizens to do as they say, and not as they do.
The “Oath of a Member of the National Assembly…” reads, in parts: “I (John Doe), do solemnly swear (or) affirm that I will… perform my functions… in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…”
In case you are wondering what members of the NASS have specifically done wrong, it’s just that they are assiduously working on a law that will amend Section 308 of the Constitution, which provides that occupants of certain political positions cannot be prosecuted whilst still in office.
The justification for that is that it will amount to too much distraction for incumbents or those still serving political offices to have to answer to the judicial system. Whoever thought of that, doesn’t know anything about social contract.
Sub-Section 308(1a) of the Constitution specifically says: “No civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against (the President or Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor) during his (or her) period of office.”
In addition, sub-Section 308(1b) provides that: “A person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period, either on pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise.”
And the Real McCoy is in sub-Section 308(1c), which provides that “No process of any court, requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies, shall be applied for, or issued.”
What this means, in everyday English, is that you can’t even sue these persons in their private capacities, as long as they are in office. The Yoruba would say, “Nwon lè pè nwon l’ejo,” which means they are above the law. “Oh, blimey,” as the Indian character in the English sitcom, Second Chance, would have said.
By the way, the word, “Immunity,” which would be pronounced as, “I mú ní ti,” were it a Yoruba phrase, would mean, not being able to apprehend or arrest us. In the Yoruba cosmology, it is the gods, or Eledumare, the Almighty God Himself, that can neither be arrested nor queried. Ka bí Ó o si, means, there can be no query for You God.
The beneficiaries of the proposed amendment to Section 308 will be the President of the Senate, Speakers of the House of Representatives and State Assemblies, as well as their deputies. No one has yet thought of Local Government Chairmen, their deputies and principal officers of local government legislatures.
“The Bill for an Act to Alter Section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to extend to Cover Presiding Officers of Legislative Institutions,” was sponsored by Olusegun Odebunmi, a threes-time representative of Ogo-Oluwa/Surulere Federal Constituency in Oyo State.
You may need to note that Odebunmi failed in his bid, against the incumbent Gbajabiamila, to be elected Speaker of the current Ninth NASS. If he would be asking for the same position anytime in the future, could he be accused of pouring cold water ahead, so he could step on cool grounds in the future?
Perhaps, recognising the immorality of Odebunmi’s Bill, Gbajabiamila offered to step down from sitting as Chairman on the debate, considering he would be an immediate beneficiary of this preposterous amendment to the Constitution.
Gbajabiamila invoked the doctrine of Nemo judex in causal sua, which means one cannot be a judge in his own case, as well as of conflict of interest, to excuse himself from presiding over the debate. Someone shot down his argument, though.
He would, however, support the bill if it would take effect in 2023. What happens if he is re-elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2023, and would therefore have no opportunity to opt out of the cover? Who is fooling who?
Odebunmi’s argument for this bill is that it “is not a means to shielding them from answering questions generated by their actions, or preventing members of the (legislative houses) from choosing or challenging their leaders when required as provided for by the laws.”
And perhaps in anticipation of the queries of sceptics, Odebunmi added, it’s “a genuine way of protecting the most sacred institutions in a democracy.” How making an erring presiding officer answer for his corrupt actions, while yet in office, is tantamount to bringing down democratic institutions is a rather long shot.
The logic is faulty and it falls when you remember that Bukola Saraki attended sessions in the Code of Conduct Tribunal, as an accused person, whilst still being President of the Eighth Senate. And that didn’t stop him from performing his duties, although some people thought he should have resigned to face the prosecution.
Mercifully, the lawmakers resolved to put the bill through the crucible of a public hearing, so the public can have a say in accepting or rejecting it. After all, vox populi, vox dei, meaning, “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Hopefully, this should effectively kill off the bill, even though it has successfully gone past the Second Reading on the floor of the House of Representatives. The Senate should prepare to deliver the death knell.
But the debate should go beyond denying principal officers of the Senate, House of Representatives, and State Houses of Assembly, from benefiting from the immunity clause, the immunity should even be withdrawn from the President, Governors, and their deputies.
The provision of the ouster clause has tremendously encouraged impunity, graft, and unconscionable display of wealth evidently derived from callous pilfering of the commonwealth by elected, as well as non-elected, state actors.
Why should the President, the Governors, their deputies, and principal officers of the legislative Houses, profit from an immunity clause? It was a grave damage done to the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens by those who inserted that clause into the Constitution.
It’s the same way Section 6(6c) of the Constitution provides that, “The judicial powers vested in (Section 6)… shall not… extend to any issue or question as to whether any act or ommision by any authority or person… is in conformity with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy set out in Chapter II of this Constitution.”
Some argue that common sense may prevent you from insisting that a government should be prosecuted for falling short in performing the Objective Principles of the Constitution.
But excusing those who steal from the commonwealth from immediate prosecution, because they are in office, is not only unjust, it is unjustifiable.
To turn a phrase around, the lawmakers have come to equity without justice.
