House Seeks to Ease Impeachment of President, VP

Chairman, House Committee on House  Services, Hon. Yakubu Dogara

* Intervenes in Dana Air crash compensation payment

By: Onwuka Nzeshi

The House of Representatives Tuesday passed through second reading, a bill seeking to remove ambiguities in the process of impeaching   the president and vice-president from office.

The proposed law would require amending  Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution to make it easy for a president or vice-president  to be removed whenever there are allegations of gross misconduct against either of them.

Also Tuesday, the  House resolved to   intervene in the plight  of victims of the Dana Air crash, which occurred a year ago.

The intervention followed  the difficulty the victims had experienced in  obtaining compensation from Dana Airline since the  crash  occurred on June 3 last year, killing all 153 passengers on board, and some people on the ground.

The controversial  bill proposes to confer on the National Assembly,  the  powers to solely initiate and execute impeachment proceedings against   the president.

Chairman, House Committee on House  Services, Hon. Yakubu Dogara,  who sponsored the bill, said the amendment would provide a  more transparent and democratic procedure for such impeachments.

Although Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution    provides  the procedure of impeaching the president  or the vice-president, sponsors of the new bill  argued that there were many defects and ambiguities in the legislation.

Dogara explained that contrary to the argument of those opposed to it,  the bill  was not  targeted  at  President Goodluck Jonathan, who has not particularly enjoyed a harmonious relationship with the House.

Dogara, who  justified  the need to  vest  the powers to impeach the  president exclusively on the parliament, argued that one of the defects in the 1999 Constitution  was that  the only basis to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president  was for "gross misconduct" which he said, was not clearly defined.

Chairman, House Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hon. Emmanuel Jime, who spoke in favour of the bill, said  it was intended to address constitutional challenges that the lawmakers were having with defining gross misconduct.

Section 143(11) describes  'gross misconduct' as “ a grave violation or breach of this Constitution or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion of the National Assembly to gross misconduct."

Jime  faulted the provision of the constitution that  the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) should be the one to raise a panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct against the president or the vice-president rather than the National Assembly.

"How can the Chief Justice, who himself is an appointee of the president, be the one to set up a panel to investigate the allegations? Section 143(5) had made provisions that following a motion supported by at least two-thirds majority of members of each houses of the National Assembly, the CJN shall at the request of the Senate President appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative house or political party, to investigate the allegations...."

However, Leader of the House, Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande,  described the bill as  undemocratic and unnecessary.

According to her,  democracy in Nigeria was  still too young to be compared with that of the United States where the proponents of the bill seemed to have derived their inspiration.

Deputy Leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor, also cautioned that impeachment proceedings were  usually extreme measures that should not be made so cheap.

Ogor said the proposed amendment  negates the principle of fair hearing as the parliament would be the judge in its own case.

Minority Leader of the House, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, who also opposed the bill,  stated that the power to impeach already lied with the parliament, adding that impeachment processes were supposed to be rigorous, painstaking and the last resort.

According to him, there was no need for the amendment as  all the checks and balances have been  fully embedded in the existing law.

Despite opposition to the bill by  most of the members,  it scaled the hurdle in a voice vote whose verdict was as controversial as the bill itself.

Meanwhile, the  House has  sought  to intervene in the demands of victims of the Dana Air crash, which occurred a year ago.

The resolution  to intervene followed  the adoption of  a motion moved by the Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Hon.  Nkiruka Onyejeocha, as she  commiserated  with the families of those killed in the incident.

Onyejeocha  said the House  should intervene to ensure that the families of the crash got their dues. She also urged the  House  to work with aviation authorities and all stakeholders in making the nation’s airspace safe, including strengthening emergency response systems.