The House of Representatives committee set up for the amendment of the Nigerian 1999 constitution has refused to approve a bill that grants immunity to leaders in the National Assembly and some other judicial officers.
Some of the officers that the bill seeks to absolve of all litigations are the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Deputy Speaker of the House.
The bill was sponsored by Segun Odebunmi, a legislator from APC, Oyo State.
It was titled “An Act to alter Section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to extend immunity to cover presiding officers of the legislative institutions.”
Remarkably, this was not Segun Odebunmi’s first time of sponsoring a controversial bill to the National Assembly. Last year, he sponsored the contentious National Broadcasting Commission bill and the Nigerian Press Council bill. He also played a key role in the suspension of Twitter NG by the Buhari-led administration. He was the chairman of the committee that approved the suspension.
Leo Ogor, a one-time minority leader and legislator from PDP, Delta also tried to push a similar bill through the 8th Assembly. Lawmakers unanimously rejected the move back then.
Yesterday, the bill was publicly heard in a meeting that involved both lawmakers and Abdulhamid Mohammed, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria working with the committee as a consultant.
Summarizing thier position, they said even though the bill allows citizens to seek leave of the court to sue any of the mentioned public officials, it will create a conflict of interest, particularly as it relates to the judicial officers. He noted that the bill did not indicate which court has the competence to hear such cases.
Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia) spoke against the bill. He opined that such immunity should not cover the civil and criminal acts of the leaders. At best, it should be restricted to the duties and responsibilities of the elected public officers.
According to him, the executive arm has repeatedly abused the processes of the legislature and judiciary in Nigeria. Giving a blank immunity would make matters worse and is therefore unacceptable
The Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase, reacted to Abonta’s submission by saying that legislators are already covered by immunity by reason of the powers and privileges act.
He added that even though there are instances where some executives have been “reckless” in actions against lawmakers and judicial officers, it is left for the House to decide on the bill.
He, therefore, stated strongly that the bill should be stepped down.
