Suspension of Legislators Illegal, Says Falana
Ejiofor Alike
A human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, has described as illegal, the current penchant of the current National Assembly to suspend members.
In a statement he issued yesterday, Falana cited the celebrated case of The Speaker, Bauchi House of Assembly v Hon. Rifkatu Danna (2017) 49 WRN 52, where the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the Bauchi State High Court, which had set aside the indefinite suspension of the respondent as a member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly.
He argued that the suspension of a legislator amounts to a denial of representation by his/her constituency.
Citing the Bauchi case, the senior lawyer noted that “the fact that the respondent was re-elected for another four-year term by the people of Bogoro Constituency in Bauchi State to represent them in the House of Assembly was to ensure that she had the right to be in the House of Assembly for another four year term to serve the constituency without undue interference.”
According to him, the reelection was also to ensure that the constituency is represented in the Bauchi State House of Assembly for the four- year lifespan of the Assembly.
Falana also cited section 117(1) of the Constitution, which provides that “117(1) Subject to the provisions of this constitution, every State constituency established in accordance with the provisions of this part of this chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to a House of Assembly in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”
He added that Bogoro Constituency in Bauchi State has to always have an elected member representing her interests in the House of Assembly.
“That is a constitutional guarantee, a violation of which the respondent is seeking to be protected in the originating summons proceedings. But the indefinite suspension of the respondent was a calculated attempt to silence the respondent from opposing the relocation of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Headquarters to Bununu District without the benefit of a dissenting voice,” he explained.
He added that to suspend the respondent indefinitely is to preclude her from participating in the deliberations of the Bauchi State House of Assembly.
“In my humble opinion, any member of the Bogoro Constituency could have timeously challenged the indefinite suspension of their choice representative in the Bauchi State House of Assembly on the grounds that their accrued rights had been violated or breached by the appellants,” he said.
Falana further cited the South African case of Speaker of the National Assembly v. Patricia De Lille MP & Anor. (1999) ZASCA 50; (1999) 4 All SA 241 (A) where the respondent, a member of the South African National Assembly made a number of unsubstantiated allegations against other members in the course of a debate.
On being reprimanded by the Speaker, the respondent unconditionally withdrew her remarks.
But despite this, the South African House of Assembly punished the member by suspension for 15 days.
The suspension was challenged in the High Court of Justice and the High Court set aside the suspension.
According to the senior lawyer, when the National Assembly appealed to the South African Supreme Court, the court held: “More directly, there is nothing which provides any constitutional authority for the assembly, to punish any member of the Assembly, for making any speech, through an order suspending such member from the proceedings of the assembly.
“The right of free speech in the assembly protected by section 58(1) is a fundamental right crucial to representative government in a democratic society,” the court held.
The learned silk further referred to Ezeoke v. Makarfi (1982) 3 NCLR 663 at 674 where Nasir, P.J.; Utit v. Odukpani (1959) 3 ENLR 28 ; Hanley v. Peace Partners (1914 – 1915) All E.R Rep. 984, and Chief Nzeribe v. Senate President (unreported suit Number FHC/ABJ/380/2002 of 5th May, 2003, to buttress the illegality of the suspension of legislators.