Should immunity for President, govs be removed?

7 years ago

Should immunity for President, govs be removed?

Politicians, lawyers, activist comment on the desirability of the immunity clause in Nigeria’s political system

In my personal opinion, the immunity clause should be expunged from the constitution. We don’t need it. I don’t know of any democratic country that has the immunity clause in its constitution. From where did we borrow it?

If we seriously want to fight corruption, no public officer, including the President, should enjoy immunity against prosecution. Anybody that commits an offence while in office should be prosecuted.

Prosecution is an essential component of democracy all over the world. Anybody who does not want to be prosecuted while in office should not aspire to public office. The need to protect public officials against distraction is not an excuse. Public officials of the United States and other democracies do not enjoy immunity. Are they distracted? Distraction is not an excuse.

Why should somebody be in charge of an entire country or a state for four or eight years if he or she cannot face a criminal charge for an offence committed during the period? And if you do not prosecute the person in eight years, when are you going to do that? We do not need it; it adds nothing to our national development as a country. Nobody should be above the law. The same law that applies to the ordinary Nigerian should also apply to our President, governors and their deputies.- •Dr. Cairo Ojougboh (Acting factional National Deputy Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party)

There is an administrative convenience that immunity clause gives. It helps those in power to remain focused on their responsibilities. Such administrative convenience has always been there. You can trace it to several centuries ago when the monarchs could not be questioned.

Before we talk about the immunity clause, we should consider the place of values in the interpretation of the constitution. The problem we have is that we overemphasise the written laws without considering our values.

If you look at Section One of the constitution, it talks about certain national values, which have predated the constitution. So, when there is a dispute, it is important to look at the spirit or the values behind the constitution. We need to look at the values behind every agreement. That should guide the interpretation of the constitution.

You would observe that some societies hold such values in esteem even though they are unwritten, whereas in Nigeria, we keep talking about the constitution as if everything is about it. We forget that the essence of the constitution is in the unwritten values.

Now, if you remove the immunity clause, is it going to prevent people from stealing? The spirit behind the provision is to enable the ‘chief executive officer’ of the country or a governor to focus on his responsibility, which is to work for the people without distraction.