Causa Sua’s Nemo Judex principle (in my case, no one should be a judge) is completely ignored in this issue about the unconstitutional punishment he encountered with Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Women are so underestimated in Nigerian governance structures, and zero-in to both sexual and political harassment of female legislators is a harm to our democracy. Such actions justified attacks on freedom of expression, encouraged intimidation and encouraged institutionalized sexual harassment in public spaces. All enlightened opinions are forced to call for an immediate recovery from Senator Natasha.
Yesterday, the senator passed a vote of confidence in Senate President Gods Will Akpabio, despite being levelled against him by Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan. Nigerians have not recovered from embarrassment about how votes are being taken in the Senate as viral videos of episodes of audio voting continue to spread. The Senate president had proposed allegations that after Natasha’s six-month suspension, he still had to apologize before re-entering the Senate. He called for an audio vote, and the overwhelming majority said, “No.” He decided they wouldn’t listen to him often, and made repeated moves, again, the majority said “no.” The same happened for the third time when the almighty Senate president decided to announce that “ayes” had it.
The meaning of this incident is clear. The senator has confiscated the mandate by President Akpabio, and whatever he decides to announce is the absolute law of the Senate. The Senate is the highest expression of political tyranny in modern Nigeria, and “supportive” is not permitted to oppose their tyrant’s decision.
It was therefore not surprising that the Senate passed a vote of trust in the tyrants who would do it. However, I was surprised that members of the Upper Chamber had the extreme in urging their allegations of sexual harassment against the tyrant to not serve as a distraction from Congress’s legislative liability. What sense of responsibility have they portrayed to expect respect from Nigerians? Meanwhile, Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a brave warrior who accused Akpabio of sexual harassment, had reported the issue to the Inter-Congressional Union (IPU) along with a halt from the Senate.
I believe there is clear evidence that the decision by Nigerian Senator Natasha Akpoti Judaghan to suspend for six months is an unconstitutional move that undermines democracy and sets a dangerous precedent for legislative governance. The suspension of elected senators is inconsistent with sections 68 and 69 of the 1999 constitution, and clearly outlines the legal process for lawmakers to lose their seats. Sections 68(1) & (2) state that through the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), it can only be declared that a legislator’s seats can be declared vacant under certain circumstances, such as resignation, asylum, conviction, or recall by members. Section 69 provides that the recall process is the only constitutional tool for removing elected lawmakers and makes Senate decisions legally unfounded. By suspending Senator Natasha, the Senate effectively denied the people of the Kogi Central Senate District the rights of representatives, the actions that constituted abuse of power.
The majority of members appear to be against the reckless behavior of their bosses, but fear that they will lose their privilege. They know that in dealing with the issue he was the main defendant but did nothing, he should have questioned the fairness of Senate President Godwill Akpabio. Even more troubling is the decision decided by the Senate Ethics Committee, which has been clearly influenced by the leadership, to dismiss allegations of sexual harassment against Akpabio without a fair and neutral review.
Many judicial rulings have consistently declared legislative suspensions illegal. They include important cases such as the honorable Dino Melaye v House of Housevers (2009), which ruled that the Federal High Court has not had the authority to suspend elected members to the Legislative Council Room. “In Ali Ndume v Senate President & Ors (2018), the Court of Appeals has reinforced the principle that lawmakers cannot be removed deliberately by their colleagues. Similarly, House of Assembly vHon. Danna (2003) has established that they have the power to eliminate power to eliminate power in justice or elections. The Senate president is angry with his colleagues he accused of sexual harassment.
The majority of members appear to be against the reckless behavior of their bosses, but fear that they will lose their privilege. They know that in dealing with the issue he was the main defendant but did nothing, he should have questioned the fairness of Senate President Godwill Akpabio. Even more troubling is the decision decided by the Senate Ethics Committee, which has been clearly influenced by the leadership, to dismiss allegations of sexual harassment against Akpabio without a fair and neutral review. In doing so, they violate Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees all citizens the right to a fair hearing.
It is important to remember the case studies of the Bauch State House of Representatives and the Chairman of Hong. Rifkatu Samson Danna (2017). This classic case clearly defined the issue of clearly stopping legislators from their own functioning. Below are the facts of the incident. The respondent in that case was a member of the Bauch State House of Representatives, and she was suspended indefinitely. She filed a lawsuit in the Bauch State High Court questioning the House resolution. The judgement was made in her favour. The House ruled in the Court of Appeal, which upheld the High Court’s decision. The appeals court said that lawmakers, not employees of the House, cannot be stopped or have her rights, namely salary or other allowances.
… Causa Sua’s Nemo Judex principle (in my case no one should be a judge) is completely ignored in this issue about the unconstitutional punishment he encountered with Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. The idea of sending legislators against the ruling party is a very direct threat to democracy, and as citizens, we should not allow ourselves to become a tyrannical room of blind support for leadership, even if support is compulsive.
While the court was making a decision on the provisions of Article 111 of the Constitution of 1999, “The amendments to the salaries and wages of respondents are within the state of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Finance Committee under Article 111 of the Constitution. The oversight of the House of Representatives or the Bauch State Legislature cannot underestimate these rights and privileges to elected members of the Congress…”
Sign up for the AllAfrica newsletter for free
Get the latest African news
success!
Almost finished…
You need to check your email address.
Follow the instructions in the email you sent to complete the process.
error!
There was a problem processing the submission. Please try again later.
“Any member of the Bagoro constituency could have spent time challenging the indefinite suspension of their chosen representatives of the Bauch State Congress Council Members on the ground that their guilty rights have been infringed or breached by the appellant. An anti-democratic crime of taking away the constituency of the member’s constituency of lawmakers, which they have been legally elected by voters.”
Finally, Causa Sua’s Nemo Judex principle (in my case no one should be a judge) is completely ignored on this issue regarding the unconstitutional punishment he encountered with Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uuduaghan. The idea of sending legislators against the ruling party is a very direct threat to democracy, and as citizens, we should not allow ourselves to become a tyrannical room of blind support for leadership, even if support is compulsive.
Women are so underestimated in Nigerian governance structures, and zero-in to both sexual and political harassment of female legislators is a harm to our democracy. Such actions justified attacks on freedom of expression, encouraged intimidation and encouraged institutionalized sexual harassment in public spaces. All enlightened opinions are forced to demand an immediate recovery of Senator Natasha and a halt to reckless threats and harassment from opposition lawmakers.
Jiblin Ibrahim, a consultant/expert professor in political science and development, is a senior fellow at the Center for Democracy Development and chair of the Editorial Board of Premium Times.
