The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has condemned the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, over the bill seeking immunity from prosecution for federal lawmakers.
The group noted that the Speaker and the President of the Senate may be afraid of possible “prosecution over something only both of them know for rushing up a bill to grant themselves immunity from prosecution.”
HURIWA in a statement released through its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, stated that “the hierarchy of the National Assembly should note that only the guilty are afraid.”
The group noted that the constitutional democracy thrives when all citizens irrespective of status are equal before the law.
HURIWA commended the minority leader, Ndudi Elelu for standing against what it described as “obviously bad piece of the proposed legislation” to confer undeserving immunity from prosecution to the principal officers of both the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly.
The Coordinator of HURIWA stated that the fact that some stood against the bill shows that even amongst thieves there are honourable men and women.
The Rights group said Nigerians even expect the National Assembly to strike out section 308(1) of the constitution to remove immunity for the executive arm of government.
HURIWA wonders whether the Nigerian parliament is located in the “outer space for the members not to have known that even recently in Great Britain the Prime minister Boris Johnson was dragged to Court by some citizens over the ways and manner that he shut the House of Commons so as to foist his own kind of BREXIT on that session of the parliament and the British Supreme Court overturned the closing of the House of Commons by the controversial premier.”
The group while speaking on the impeachment of President Donald Trump by the United States of America, House of Assembly noted that Nigeria that borrowed the Presidential system of government should serve as a constructive lesson to demonstrate that nobody is above the law in civilised societies.
The statement reads: “We are shocked that at a time the entire civilized world is opening up the political spaces and making political leadership a much more transparent activity in which the actors must abide by the tenets of full disclosures and respect the twin virtues of transparency and accountability the Nigerian National Assembly is busy making evil law that would turn their job to that of secret cult. The attempt to do that offends section 15(5) of the constitution which forbids the abuse of power by political officeholders. The FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT is also a binding law which is against such dubious immunity clauses.”
“Awarding themselves immunity from prosecution is a clear message to Nigerians that the bunch of legislators at the National Assembly have committed outrageous crimes that they do not wish that people should know or they are afraid of their shadows and are preparing for post-retirement FREEDOM from the necessary legal demands for accountability. Nigerians must stoutly oppose this unconstitutional attempt to introduce the dictatorship of legislators.”
“As human rights crusaders, we do not think that Nigeria should be drawn back to the medieval periods when kings and rulers are above the law and whereby tyranny was the order of the day. These National Assembly members had better been told to abolish section 308(1) instead of attempting to further clothe themselves with the capricious and wicked immunity from being tasked to give an account of their stewardship.”
The bill sponsored by Odebunmi Olusegun has scaled the second reading in the House of Representatives.
In supporting the bill, Majority Leader, Ado-Doguwa said: “It should be passed for the simple reason that it provides protection for leaders of the legislature considering the important work of the legislature.”
