Against Immunity For Lawmakers

Barely four years after Nigerian lawmakers, precisely members of the 8th National Assembly backtracked on efforts to secure immunity for presiding officers of the National Assembly and their state counterparts, as a result of public outcry, the 9th National Assembly is back with a move of same purpose.
This time, via a bill sponsored by the lawmaker representing Ogo-Oluwa/Surulere Federal Constituency of Oyo State in the Federal House of Representatives, Olusegun Odebunmi, titled, “Bill for an Act to Alter Section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Extend Immunity to Cover Presiding Officers of Legislative Institutions’, seeks to extend immunity to the four presiding officers of the National Assembly and those of the State Houses of Assembly.
Section 308 of the Constitution provides that, “notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution but subject to Sub-Section 2 of this Section (a) No Civil or Criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during his period of office; (b) A person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise and (c) No process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies shall be applied for or issued. Subsection 3 of the section spells out specifically the persons to whom the privilege of immunity from prosecution applies as the President, the Vice President, governors and deputy governors.
Already, the bill has passed for second reading on the floor of the House of Representatives. Interestingly, however, many lawmakers have voiced their opposition to the bill. Also, majority of Nigerians including civil rights groups have rejected the bill with many describing it as an attempt to indulge the lawmakers and shield them from answering any question generated by their actions, particularly that of corruption.
The Tide, therefore, joins other well-meaning opponents to the bill to say that such is not what Nigeria needs at this time of her national and democratic development. We say so because we are convinced that lawmakers in the country have all they need to legislate effectively for the general good of the people.
We recall that on January 27, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Legislative House Power and Privileges Act, which provides protection for decisions taken by members of parliament in the country. The law grants the Legislative Houses in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly immunity from litigation for actions taken in plenary or committee proceedings of the House or Committee.
Thus, we wonder what further immunity the lawmakers are looking for or what contributions additional immunity clauses would serve or add to the promotion of our democracy. Indeed, using the law to provide cover for official indiscretions, recklessness, abuse of power or office, impunity and outright criminality at any level is no longer fashionable.
We are not unaware of the real intentions of immunity privileges, especially, in a political climate fraught with political mischief makers and those with the penchant for ‘pull-him-down’ syndrome. But the privilege is open to abuses. Some of those currently enjoying it are not free from abusing it even to the extent of hiding behind it to escape repercussions for infringements on extent laws of the land. They often arrogate to themselves supernatural powers and see their opinions and wishes as superior, knowing that the law safeguards them.
We think that at a time other countries are trying to whittle down immunity provisions for political office holders so that they should be answerable to law and the people, Nigerian lawmakers should not try to expand the field. The fact that in spite of the amount of opposition that has greeted the bill at inception, the lawmakers still want to take it to public hearing where the outcome could be manipulated, shows that they are desperate to foist it on Nigerians.
This, we believe, is another attempt to ridicule the country and her democracy. It is a huge setback for the rule of law that the same privileged and powerful leaders of parliament that regularly make laws that consign ordinary, powerless Nigerians to prison for even trivial offences want to establish elite immunity to protect themselves from consequences for serious crimes of corruption and money laundering.
In fact, if allowed to stand, the much-vaunted fight against corruption by President Buhari’s administration would further lose credibility and moral ground to prosecute other Nigerians. This is because the bill would not only protect lawmakers from legal consequences for corruption and other foibles, it would exacerbate the immunity that prevails in Nigerian political circles and worsen the country’s ranking in world’s corruption perception index.
We think that the leadership of the House of Representatives should, without further delay, withdraw this obnoxious bill. Any contrary action would only go to prove the belief by many that Nigerian politicians, particularly lawmakers, are insensitive to the feelings of the people and mostly engage in self-serving trips rather than true and effective representation.
If it is difficult to strip those currently enjoying immunity of the privilege, attempts should not be made, at any quarters, to enlarge the field of immunity beneficiaries.