Immunity for Senate President, Speaker, Others, Rejected By Reps

The Special Committee on Amendment of the 1999 Constitution of the House of Representatives has rejected a bill seeking to confer immunity on judicial officers and on presiding officers of the National Assembly.

The National Assembly's presiding officers are the Senate President, the Deputy Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker of the House.

The bill is 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.”The bill is sponsored by Segun Odebunmi (APC, Oyo).

Segun Odebunmi, chaired the Committee that approved the suspension of Twitter by the Federal Government. He is also the sponsor of the controversial National Broadcasting Commission bill and the Nigerian Press Council bill.

At the public hearing on the bill yesterday, Abdulhamid Mohammed, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who is one of the consultants working with the committee, presented the position of the consultants to the lawmakers.

Mohammed 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. He added: “The immunity is not absolute.

Speaking against the bill, Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia), said immunity should only cover issues regarding duties and functions of those public officers, not criminal acts like rape or murder.

He noted that even though there are examples of abuse of process by the executive against the legislature and judiciary, blank immunity is not acceptable.

Culled/Extract: The Guardian Nigeria

Souce: Guardian

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