Executive encroachment, a slap on separation of powers – Tambuwal ABUJA—SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, yesterday accused the executive arm of government of encroaching into the legislature’s area of jurisdiction. He also accused some top government officials of promoting impunity. Citing the recent suit by the Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Deziani Alison-Madueke seeking an order to stop the House Committee on Public Accounts from going ahead with its planned probe of her alleged spending of N10 billion for the chartering of private jets, Tambuwal said it was unheard of that an official of an arm of government would try to use court to stop another arm from carrying out its constitutional assignment. Tambuwal, who stated this in a speech to mark the end of the third session of the 7th House however admitted that the nation’s democracy, albeit faced with myriads of challenges, is evolving. He said the Chamber will remain resolute in discharging its responsibilities, stressing that the House would not be intimidated in the war on corruption. Giving an account of all that transpired in the last one year , Tambuwal said “we witnessed the dawn of a disturbing trend whereby people now go to court to stop the National Assembly from exercising its constitutional mandate and conducting its internal operations. This is unheard of in jurisdictions where genuine democracy is practised and venerated. “The usual democratic practice is that the powers of the courts are activated to challenge laws enacted by the legislature. This is the proper manner in which the judiciary is enabled to perform its constitutional function as the interpreter of both the constitution and duly enacted laws. “It is neither usual nor appropriate for the judiciary to be used pre-emptively to stop the legislature from acting in the first place. This is an encroachment on the powers of the legislature and a slap in the face of the principle of separation of powers. The Speaker, who said the House would continue to align with the people of Nigeria on every issue, condemned what he called attempts by some officials of government to trample on the rights of Nigerians. …Raps Police chief, Mbu over planned ban on ‘BringBackOurGirls’ rallies He specifically flayed the move by the Abuja Police Commissioner, Mr Joseph Mbu to ban protests over the abduction of over 200 female students of Chibok Girls Secondary School, commending the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar for reversing the decision. He said “as if to buttress our descent into the pits of reckless disregard for the rights of citizens, the nation recently woke up to the sad dawn of a Commissioner of Police acting on his own initiative, without clearance from his superiors and in flagrant contravention of the clear Constitutional guarantees of the right of citizens audaciously purporting to ban the peaceful assembly of Nigerians. “This is an unacceptable abridgement of the rights of Nigerians to freedom of speech, association and peaceful assembly, and this House must treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves. The fact that the office of the Inspector-General of Police felt compelled to deny the action of the Police Commissioner only goes to underscore the audaciousness of the conduct of the Police Commissioner.” …Speaker decries rising insurgency, urges urgent rescue of Chibok scool girls On the security situation in the country, Tambuwal lamented the continued killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians by insurgents. He particularly bemoaned abduction of the Chibok girls stressing that it was even more painful that the girls were still with the insurgents almost two months after. He said “the sad, unfortunate and callous abduction of the Chibok girls has greatly injured our national pride and attracted for Nigeria unwanted global attention and global scorn. “Once again, the attack on our innocent children on their school calls into question our credential as a nation that takes care of its citizens and our capacity as a government to perform the very basic constitutional duty of safeguarding the security and welfare of our people. It is now almost two months since the kidnap of the Chibok girls.” The Speaker tasked the lawmakers to ask themselves “whether we have done all that is in our power to ensure the release or rescue of these poor innocent girls of Chibok. “Today, on this august occasion of our third anniversary, I wish to unreservedly add my voice to the chorus of national and global voices that are pleading, requesting and demanding: BringBackOurGirls. But this House must not limit itself to the slogan of #BringBackOurGirls. We must come up with imaginative ideas not only to bring back these girls alive and well but to protect other children of Nigeria against such trauma in the future.”
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 13:22:10 +0000
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