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The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for second reading, a bill seeking the amendment of the 1999 Constitution in order to extend immunity to the Presiding Officers of the legislature.
The Presiding Officers are: President of the Senate, Deputy President of the Senate, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of a State House of Assembly.
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; and for Related Matters,’ the bill scaled through second reading after several debates.
According to the sponsor of the bill, Odebunmi Olusegun (APC, Lagos) it is intended to protect the institution of the legislature from distraction caused by unnecessary legal actions against Presiding Officers.
In a lead debate on the general principles of the bill, Olusegun said that in spite of the uninterrupted concentration required for carrying out effective legislative duty, the institution has suffered serious distractions in the past.
He argued that either genuine or not, such distractions have had serious negative impacts on the quality of legislation, as well as discouraging Presiding officers of the Legislative institutions at National and State levels from taking decisive actions or taking certain critical decisions when necessary for fear of the unknown.
“Therefore, for our democracy to continue flourishing, no action meant to strengthen the legislative institution could be out of proportion. Extending immunity to the Presiding Officers of the National and State Assemblies is not a means of shielding them from answering any question generated by their action or preventing members of the House from exercising their powers of choosing or changing their leaders when required as provided for by the laws but a genuine way of protecting the most sacred institution in democracy”, he stated.
Before the commencement of the debate on the general principles of the bill, Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila insisted that it should have a commencement time of 2023 when the present leadership of the National Assembly tenure elapses.
“The Bill must be tweaked in such a way that the present presiding officers will not benefit from it, make it futuristic in terms of commencement date. The commencement date should be 2023 when the present leadership of the National Assembly tenure elapses”, the Speaker said.
But Luke Onofiok (PDP, Akwa Ibom) said it is a constitutional amendment and as soon as it was passed and assented to by the President, the bill would start immediately, hence commencement date does not apply. He suggested that, “since we are in the process of constitutional amendment we should include it there”.
Speaking in support of the bill, the Majority Leader, Alhassan Doguwa said it should be passed for the simple reason that it provides protection for leaders of the legislature considering the importance of the work of the legislature.
Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu who also spoke in favour of the bill, said it would guard against the compromise of the legislative arm, as according to him, “We are all witnesses to how the presiding officers were subjected to trial. We should avoid such from happening again”.
Ndudi Elumelu, Minority Leader who opposed the bill told the lawmakers their paramount interest should be welfare and security of their constituents and faulted the timing of the bill.
“Outside there, our people are being killed and butchered. We are coming up with a bill on issue of immunity while some of us are saying that people should be held accountable for what they do. I think it is wrong and it should not be allowed”.
