Activist lawyer Madubuachi Idam on Friday said Senate President Godswill Akpabio lacks the power to decide which senator leaves or stays.......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
Idam explained that such power resides with the constituents, not Akpabio.
He was reacting to the suspension of Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by the Senate.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended following allegations of sexual harassment against Akpabio.
However, Idam said the Akpabio-led Senate has excluded the people of Kogi Central from the Senate for six months just to shield himself from investigation.
A statement by Idam reads: “The power to decide which senator should leave the Senate or retain his or her position (for whatever reason) does not lie with the Senate President or the National Assembly.
“It is the exclusive right of the constituents who elected such a senator into the Senate.
“Admittedly, the Senate Rules (controversially) permit the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges to carry out disciplinary actions against an erring senator where there is a case of misconduct among members of the Senate. Such disciplinary actions must be recommended after due consideration by the committee to the Senate President, who is expected to approve them.
“Interestingly, where the Senate President is a party to an allegation of misconduct raised before the Senate, despite how flimsy the allegation may appear, he will lack the constitutional competence to preside over a proceeding where such an allegation will be discussed.
“No one is a judge in his own cause (nemo judex in causa sua). This is the purport of Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“It amounts to a reckless abuse of the principle of natural justice for the Senate President, who is a party to an allegation, to sit as a judge and suspend his accuser over such an allegation when he himself has not answered to it. Such can only be justice craftily served.
“Sadly, the Akpabio-led Senate has, by its actions, excluded the people of Kogi Central from the Senate for six months just to shield himself from investigation.
“I insist that a commission of inquiry must be constituted to investigate this allegation, not the Akpabio-led Senate, which is already biased in the matter.”
