Specifically, the judicial challenge of the indiscriminate recourse to oversight power of the legislature for political persecution of the Executive initiated in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/346/2014 emphasizes “that by law, the respondents are enjoined to seek the consent of the President before ordering the applicants to tender the official unpublished papers, books, and records” and further that “all the documents being requested of the applicants by the respondents are unpublished official records, and the respondents in all their invitations have never shown to the applicants, any such evidence of presidential consent, after numerous demands made by the applicants that they do so.”
The suit cited Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended and Section 8 of the Legislatives Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act Cap. L12 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2010 and sought ‘‘an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from summoning them or any agencies under their supervision or control, to appear before them for the purpose of giving evidence which relate to the unpublished official records of the Applicants without the consent of the President.’’
Another significant thrust of the suit is highlighted in its urging the court to declare that the respondents lacked the power “to conduct investigation into allegations of fraud, corruption or other criminal activities said to have occurred in the agencies under the applicants’ supervision or control when such probe or investigation is not for the purpose of enabling the respondents make laws or correct any defect in existing laws.”
It stands to reason that in the same way the National Assembly rises to shield its members from police summons and arrest warrants on the grounds that such processes should be channelled through its leadership, ministers under President of the Federal Republic should not be ordered around and subjected to the procedural pressure of obeying instructions from the legislature without consent of Mr President. Thus, due process that upholds the principle of separation of powers in the exercise of legislative functions over the Executive is a necessity predicated on the cited relevant Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution which has established a process for access and retrieval of certain documentary information within the Executive arm.
No less important in the reformatory objectives of the Diezanni-NNPC law suit is the focus on the ultimate purpose of legislative inquiries, probes and hearings as defined by the constitution which is categorically tied to “the purpose of enabling the respondents make laws or correct any defect in existing laws.” Respecting this very fundamental provision governing legislative probes will surely restore purpose and sanity to the prevailing predatory political predilection of legislative oversight functions and public hearings, particularly in respect of Minister Diezani and the NNPC. There will be need for more circumspection and pre-validation of the wild and concocted allegations that usually form the basis for vexatious summons, hearings and other vindictive legislative “oversight” activities currently in shameless vogue among honourable legislators. Above all, it shall be made known to all and sundry how the subject matter relates to law-making or law-amending duties of the legislature, effectively relieving the legislature of its self-imposed ill-suited role of accuser, investigator and judge in its dubious anti-corruption posture, now seen in its true colours.
It is hoped that the selfless and patriotic motivations behind Minister Diezanni and the NNPC’s move to restore due process, law and order into the exercise of legislative oversight functions over the Executive will meet with the noble arbitration and wise adjudication expected of the Judiciary as it stands between the other two estates of the realm in moderating a workable interrelationship for the success of our democratic dispensation in the service of our people.
Concluded
Saratu Tobi wrote in from Kaduna.
