Ningi: Lawmakers or Lawbreakers?
Juliet Akoje writes that the recent suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi for three months by the Senate not only violates Senate’s Rules but is also in breach of various court judgments in the previous cases involving Senators Ali Ndume and Ovie Omo-Agege, as well as Dino Melaye and 10 other members of the House of Representatives, where the courts ruled that the National Assembly has no power to suspend a member for more than 14 days
For claiming that the 2024 budget was padded to the tune of over N3 trillion, the Senate last Tuesday suspended Senator Abdul Ningi.
Ningi, from Bauchi Central Senatorial District, and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Population was suspended for three months after a long stormy session in the red chamber. A member of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, first moved the motion for Ningi’s suspension for 12 months.
However, other lawmakers like Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong moved for the amendment of the motion by Ibrahim.
Ekpenyong, who is from Cross River South Senatorial District, prayed for the reduction of the suspension.
Another senator, Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South), however, made further amendment, asking that Ningi be suspended for three months.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said the statement credited to Ningi in the media had damaged their integrity and subjected them to ridicule as Nigerians bashed the parliament.
After putting the amended motion to a voice vote, Akpabio ruled that, “Senator Ningi is hereby suspended from the Senate for three months.”
Many observers have criticised Ningi’s suspension, claiming that it was a ploy to subdue him not to expose the upper legislative chamber to further ridicule. They wondered why a committee was not set up to investigate the allegations instead of resorting to suspension?
The suspension of the Bauchi senator was not the first time the upper legislative chamber would suspend its members.
Though the National Assembly had severally argued that it is part of its rules to suspend any of its erring members, does it have the legal powers to do so?
Suspension, whether in the Senate, House of Representatives or state Houses of Assembly, means that the lawmaker (s) will not be allowed to attend the plenary and will be prohibited from attending committee meetings and participating in oversight functions.
His salary, allowances and other entitlements will not be paid, while his constituency is also denied representation during the period of his suspension.
He will not have access to his office and he is expected not to be seen within the premises of the complex, until the suspension is lifted.
However, Order 67 (4) of the Senate Rules states that an erring legislator can be suspended for only 14 days.
So where did the Senate derive the power to suspend Ningi for three months?
When the Senate on March 30, 2017, suspended Senator Ali Ndume for 90 legislative days for not “conducting due diligence” before filing a petition against the then Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Justice Babatunde Quadri of the Federal High Court in Abuja nullified his suspension, declaring the action illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The court declared: “The suspension of Ndume for 90 legislative days (six months) from the service of the senate as a senator in the Senate with effect from March 29, 2017, as contained in the letter of March 30, 2017, is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional as it was done in violation of Sections 68 and 69 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Article 13(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act CAP A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
The judge consequently ordered the Senate to pay the plaintiff his outstanding salaries and allowances.
But later on April 13, 2018, the Senate suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who then was representing Delta Central Senatorial District, for 90 legislative days over his comment that the National Assembly’s process of amending the Electoral Act 2010 seeking the re-ordering of the 2019 general elections was targeted at the then President Muhammadu Buhari.
His suspension had prompted him to file a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja challenging the action.
In his judgement, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba nullified the suspension, saying that while the National Assembly has the power to discipline its erring members, a legislator could not be suspended for more than 14 days.
He ordered that all the entitlements and allowances due to the lawmaker be paid to him.
A similar situation had earlier occurred in 2010 when the House of Representatives suspended Dino Melaye and 10 others who submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging criminal diversion of funds by the Dimeji Bankole-led leadership of the House.
Consequent to a suit they filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja through their lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), the court held that under the rules of the House, it cannot suspend a member for more than 14 days.
The court wondered under what law the House suspended these 11 members indefinitely and declared the action illegal.
Also in 2020, an Ondo State High Court annulled the indefinite suspension of a member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Tomide Akinribido, by the house’s leadership.
In the build-up to the 2020 Ondo State governorship election, the state assembly suspended four lawmakers: Akinribido; the Deputy Speaker, Iroju Ogundeji; Favour Tomomowo, and Wale Williams. The assembly leadership had accused them of misconduct and acts capable of bringing the assembly to disrepute.
Akinribido was specifically sanctioned for his tirade against the leadership on social media.
However, the entire suspension brouhaha was closely linked to their refusal to consent to the impeachment of the deputy governor, Agboola Ajayi who was planning to contest the governorship election against his principal, the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, after dumping the All Progressives Congress (APC) under which he was elected deputy governor in 2016.
In protest, the lawmakers through their lawyer, Banjo Ayenakin, had sought the protection of the court against their unlawful suspension from the House.
In his judgment, Justice Ademola Bola ruled that the Ondo State House of Assembly acted arbitrarily by exceeding its power and could only suspend a member for just one legislative day.
The court noted that the assembly could regulate the actions of its members and mete out disciplinary actions on members, adding however, that the suspension of any member cannot be more than one legislative day or a plenary sitting.
The judge held that Akinribido’s indefinite suspension was ultravires of the powers of the assembly and hence null and void.
He, however, noted that the lawmaker violated house rules through the WhatsApp altercation, ruling also that the house could discipline him for it.
The court said despite the powers to sanction, the suspension could not be more than one legislative day and that the House of Assembly lacked the power to suspend a member indefinitely.
In an earlier judgement given by the court , the suspension of Ogundeji, Williams and Towomowo was also quashed.
Justice Bola described the suspension as “illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”
The judge said the suspension violated sections 90, 91, 106 and 117 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. He held that the lawmakers must be reinstated into their positions with immediate effect, and awarded N5 million each as compensation for the treatment meted to them by the assembly.
From the above cases, it is clear that the National Assembly does not have the powers to suspend any of its lawmakers beyond 14 days.
That the National Assembly always ignores court judgments and its own rules and suspends its members beyond the stipulated days only shows the amount of respect or disrespect those who make the laws have for the laws they make.