BREAKING: House Advances Bill to Scrap Immunity for Vice President, Governors, Deputies

A bill seeking to remove the immunity conferred on the vice president, governors, and their deputies has passed for second reading in the House of Representatives.

The constitutional amendment bill sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob was passed at plenary on Wednesday.

Leading the debate, Bob  said Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution conferred immunity on the president, vice president, governors, and their deputies, exempting them from criminal and civil prosecution while in office.

The lawmaker stated that the bill sought to alter the constitution to remove the immunity conferred on the vice president (except when acting as president), state governors, and their deputies, and to qualify the immunity conferred on the president.

He said, “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended (in this Bill referred to as the Principal Act) is amended as set out in this Bill.

“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by: Substituting a new Sub-section (3) as follows:

“This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.

“Creating sub-section (4) thereto as follows: The foregoing provisions of this Section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this Section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.”

In a similar vein, a Bill for an Act to alter the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to upgrade the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of Lagos State to full-fledged local government areas passed second reading in the House of Representatives.

The bill, sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers, if passed, would increase the total number of local government areas in Lagos State to 57 and the total number of local government areas in Nigeria to 811.

Proponents of the bill, which passed second reading on Wednesday, said granting full local government status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people.

The 37 LCDAs were created by Bola Tinubu in 2003, when he was governor of Lagos State.

There had been moves by the Lagos State House of Assembly to replace the 37 LCDAs in the state with newly designated administrative areas.

The House also passed for second reading another bill seeking to alter the constitution to insert a new item in the exclusive legislative list with respect to piracies and crimes committed on the high seas.

The sponsor of the bill, Hon. Babajimi Benson, said the bill would enable the National Assembly to make laws to fight piracies and other crimes committed in the international waters of Nigeria.

Benson explained, “Insertion of a new item in Part 1, (hereinafter, referred to as ‘the Principal Act”) is altered in Part I, Second Schedule, by inserting after Item 44 thereof, the following new item- 44A. Piracies and Crimes Committed on the High Seas.”

The House also passed for second reading another bill to alter the Second Schedule to the constitution to rename and transfer Item 28 – fingerprints and criminal records in Part I – Exclusive List to Part II – Concurrent Legislative List.

“Alteration of the Second Schedule of Nigeria 1999 (hereinafter, referred to as ‘the Principal Act’) is altered – (a) in Part I thereof by – (i) deleting Item 28 thereof in its entirety and (ii) in Part II thereof, by inserting after paragraph 10, the following new Item and renumbering both Parts I and II accordingly-

“National Identification, DNA, Fingerprint and Identification of convicts.”