Monday, July 27, 2015

SANs: Prosecute Senate Rules Forgery Suspects


Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa (R) Swearing-In the Senate President, Bukola Saraki at the Inauguration of the 8th National Assembly in Abuja

National Assembly Clerk Salisu Maikasuwa, senators and any other person found culpable in the illegal amendment to the Senate Standing Order should be prosecuted, some eminent lawyers said yesterday. The police have declared the Standing Order, which was used for the June 9 election of Dr. Bukola Saraki as the President of the Eighth Senate, a forgery.

Prof. Itsay Sagay, Yusuf Ali (SAN) and Monday Ubani yesterday called for the prosecution of those who had a hand in the alteration of the standing rules applied to pick the Senate President, his deputy and four principal officers. But the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the defunct Second Republic, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), held a contrary position.


The Nation reports:
He argued that the police lacked the power to meddle in what he described as the Senate’s internal affairs.

Sagay said he was not surprised by Maikasuwa’s alleged involvement in the matter. He said the Clerk should be suspended immediately and be put on trial. His words: “Forgery is forgery. It is a crime. And it is a crime that should be prosecuted. As far as I am concerned, the first thing is that he should be suspended as clerk of the NASS and then should be prosecuted for forgery.

“It has always been my view from the very first day (June 9, 2015) that Saraki fraudulently got himself into Senate presidency, that it would not have been possible without him compromising the clerk of the NASS.

“It was the clerk himself who convoked the little crowd of PDP senators that were there and APC senators that were there.

“In other words, he was the one who got the proceedings started when over 60 of the APC senators were away somewhere else. I am, therefore, not surprised that he was involved in altering the rules of the Senate illegally.”

Ali urged law enforcement agencies to do their work.

 “If a crime has been committed by anybody, the rule of law should take its course,” he said, adding that the  police know the appropriate organ to report to if there is need to prosecute the suspects.

Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Monday Ubani also maintained that all those found culpable in the alleged forgery should be prosecuted.

Ubani said: “The only thing we expect now is that those involved be arraigned and charged to court.  Even if they are senators and are involved in the forgery case, we expect that the appropriate agency should take up that matter  and prosecute them and to also ensure that the case is tried speedily and concluded because it is very important to us.”

Ubani cited China where he said the rule of law will be allowed to take its full course in such a matter to buttress his view for the prosecution of those found culpable.

“China is not a godly nation. They don’t go to church on Sunday. But do you know why China is working today? It is because they allow their laws to work. The rule of law is supreme in China”, he noted, emphasising, “as long as we don’t allow our laws to work, Nigeria would not grow.”

“The moment we begin to obey our laws and do the right thing with our laws, Nigeria will begin to work. Let whoever is culpable be charged to court and be prosecuted successfully.”

Second Republic lawmaker Dr Junaid Muhammed said if the police report was correct, Maikasuwa should face the music.

Muhammed, a House of Representatives member in the Second Republic, condemned the clerk for his involvement in the conspiracy against due process in the National Assembly.

“Maikasuwa, as a civil servant should have acted in a manner that will support a vibrant institution like the National Assembly, but he has undermined the process of the second era of government,” Muhammed said.

He advised Maikasuwa to go back to his  state if he want to be a politician. “What  he did to undermine the democratic  process is treachery,” Muhammed said.

However, to a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), the police lack the power to meddle in the Senate’s internal affairs.

Akinjide is in doubt if any lawmaker can be prosecuted on the basis of the police report.

He said: “It would have been better to first see the police report and rules which governs the Senate. But don’t forget, the National Assembly is sovereign. You cannot mix National Assembly rules with party rules. They are two different things. I was in parliament for two terms and I know that party rules are different from parliament rules.

“If they break the rules of the National Assembly, they have not committed any offence. Two, this is not a matter for the police. The National Assembly is sovereign, so it is not a matter the police should be investigating.
“It will be absurd in the House of Commons in London or parliament in America for the police to investigate what they did well or didn’t do well. With the greatest respect to the police, I think they are wrong in what they’re doing.”

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