Remove Constitutional immunity, say goodbye to
democracy - AC
The Action Congress (AC) has cautioned against the
contemplated withdrawal of Constitutional immunity
from the political office holders who currently enjoy
it, saying it is capable of endangering Nigeria’s
democracy.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the
party also warned the federal government against
seeking to score a cheap political point by backing
the politically-correct but dangerous clamour to strip
the President, Vice President, Governors and their
deputies of their constitutional immunity.

It said stripping the affected public office holders
of immunity, which was designed by the framers of the
Constitution to protect them from frivolous suits,
would amount to a knee-jerk approach to the serious
issues of corruption and abuse of office, which are
driving the clamour for the removal of the immunity
clause from the Constitution.

AC said the spate of corruption and gross abuse of
office by state governors and others in the last
political dispensation resulted from wrong choices and
lack of transparency in governance.

``What should we to expect from a system that threw up
known crooks and convicts as state Governors; a system
that catapulted barely-literate artisans to principal
officers in our National Assembly?
’’ the party queried.

It said corruption in Nigeria goes far beyond the 74
public office holders covered by the immunity clause,
and that it is even more deep rooted among civil
servants who do not enjoy any immunity, as well as
Ministers, Commissioners and Local Government
Chairmen, just to name a few.

``The problem is not the Constitutional immunity
enjoyed by the officials, but the quality of people
holding such offices. How many of such categories of
public office holders were indicted for corruption and
abuse of office between 1979 and 1983 anyway? Did the
Minister who was alleged to have misappropriated the
300 billion naira allocated for roads during the
Obasanjo era enjoy Constitutional Immunity?

AC said in any case, since the immunity is not for
life, those affected can always be prosecuted after
leaving office, as it is happening now, if they were
found to have abused their office or engaged in
corrupt practices during their tenure.

``Immunity protects the office, not the person. It
shields the office holders from unnecessary
distractions so they could concentrate on the serious
business of governance.

``In a country like ours, where the police is
controlled by the federal government, a vindictive
President, like the immediate past President Olusegun
Obasanjo, what he needs to do to remove a governor he does not
like from office is to frame him up and get him
arrested by the police - for as long as that Governor
does not enjoy immunity.

``While such a President can accuse a state Governor
of armed robbery just to get him arrested, handcuffed
and charged to court, opponents of any Governor can
also accuse him of adultery just to humiliate and get
him out of office.

``It is also pertinent to say that the removal of
immunity effectively takes away the power to impeach a
governor or President from the state Houses of
Assembly or the National Assembly respectively, and
hands it (power to remove from office) over to the
police,’’ AC said.

The party recalled that the immunity clause saved
former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from what would
have been an arbitrary arrest and total humiliation in
the hands of then President Obasanjo, who has now
turned around to say he was misled in his mindless
victimisation of his deputy. 

``We shudder to imagine what would have happened to
Atiku in the hands of Obasanjo if he had not enjoyed
Constitutional immunity during his needless
persecution, and the attendant chaos and crisis that
could have put our young democracy in jeopardy,’’ the
party added.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
Action Congress
Abuja, February 10th 2008