Senate Kicks Against Immunity For President, Vice President, Governors And Deputy Governors

A fresh bill sponsored by a lawmaker has made the Senate to commence the process of amending section 308 of the 1999 Constitution which gives immunity to President, Vice President, Governors and Deputy Governors in the country.

A bill sponsored by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (LP, Delta) on the immunity removal has been referred to the Senate Committee on Constitution amendment chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

The bill proposed the substitution of subsection 308(2) which reads “the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to civil proceedings against a person to whom this section applies in his official capacity or to civil or criminal proceedings in which such a person is only a nominal party”, with a new section.

The proposed amendment reads, “the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to, (a) ‘civil proceedings against a person to whom this section applies in his official capacity or to civil or criminal proceedings in which such a person is only a nominal party’.

It (b) part reads, “criminal proceedings connected to, related to or arising from economic and financial crimes”.

Omo-Agege said like in the US, the president and the VP, governors and their deputies should only be immune from civil actions arising from their official actions while in office.

“They are not entitled to immunity from litigation for actions not germane to their work. For example a president or governor who buys a car for a child and refuses to pay can be taken to court while in office,” he said.

“Also like in the US, there should be no immunity from criminal investigation or prosecution for crimes committed either before or while in office.

“Recall that Mr. Spiro Agnew while a sitting VP under President Nixon was tried and convicted for tax evasion while in office. Bill Clinton as a sitting president was hauled before a grand jury by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for perjury (lying under oath) while in office as president.

“Finally, Elliot Spitzer as a sitting governor of New York was tried and convicted for illicit solicitation for sex”, he added.

The sponsor believes that if the amendment is passed, there will be sanity, transparency and accountability in the Executive Arm of government, especially “Treatment of our state resources which most of them currently treat as slush funds”.