Nigerian Senate proposes amendment to immunity for vice-president, governors
- The Nigerian Senate is to deliberate on a bill seeking to remove immunity conferred on the vice-president, governors and their deputies
- The proposed legislation was sponsored by the deputy Senate president, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege
- If passed into law, the bill will allow law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute the vice-president, governors or their deputies found guilty of funds’ misappropriation
The Senate has introduced a bill seeking to remove immunity conferred on the vice-president, governors and their deputies.
Under section 308 of the 1999 constitution, the president of Nigeria, vice-president, governors and their deputies are currently protected from criminal prosecution while in office.
TVC News reports that the bill which was sponsored by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has been referred to the Senate Committee on Constitution amendment.
Legit.ng learnt that the proposed legislation seeks to allow for law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute the vice-president, governors or their deputies found guilty of funds’ misappropriation.
The bill, however, excludes the President from the proposed legislation.
Meanwhile, the southeast of the country has expressed thorough displeasure over its exclusion from the regions billed to benefit from the recently approved $22.7 billion foreign loan by the Senate.
Legit.ng reported that during the plenary on Thursday, March 5, the upper chamber approved the foreign loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The process, however, plunged Senate into an uproar as senators from the opposition party led by minority leader Enyinnaya Abaribe had a contrary reservation on the approval.
In another report, Smart Adeyemi, senator representing Kogi West, has thrown his weight behind the bill seeking the establishment of electoral offences commission.
Speaking during a plenary on Wednesday, March 4, Adeyemi raised an eyebrow at the rate at which electoral violence characterised the last general election.
The senator added that lack of penalty for electoral offenders has always been giving room for "people of questionable character" to force themselves on people.
Legit.ng notes that the bill, which was introduced by Abubakar Shaib Kyari, a senator representing Borno North, has scaled through the second reading process.
If passed into law, it will hopefully curb the alarming rate of malpractices and violence in subsequent elections in the country.
Backing Kyari's position on the need for the bill to scale into law, Adeyemi, who defeated his predecessor Dino Melaye in the rerun of the Kogi West election, further submitted that 'there is a need for a special court for the electoral offences' aside from the tribunal.
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The Kogi West senator said electoral malpractices and violence that characterised election in democratic dispensation makes it worst than military rule.
Meanwhile, the EFCC recorded a significant landmark in its anti-corruption effort after handing over a staggering N263 million looted funds to Kwara state government.
The anti-graft agency returned the stolen funds back to Kwara's purse on Tuesday, March 2, with Abdulrahaman Abdul-Razak on the ground to receive the money.
An official statement by EFCC said the money was recovered from suspected looters of the state's treasury following thorough findings.
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Source: Legit.ng
