Femi Falana

Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Barrister Femi Falana on Friday said the Senate overreaches itself in the decision to suspend one of its members, Senator Ali Ndume.  Falana spoke when he appeared as a guest on a breakfast programme of Channels Television on Friday.

The lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria said no legislative House in Nigeria even has the power to suspend a member even for a single day.

He also said the Senate lacked the powers to investigate allegations of forgery and non-payment of Customs duties made against Senator Dino Melaye and its President, Bukola Saraki respectively.

Ndume was suspended for bringing the two accusations to the notice of his colleagues after they were published in the media.

The Senate’s Ethics Committee had recommended the suspension of Ndume for not doing due ‘diligence before bringing the accusations up in the plenary after it cleared Melaye and Saraki of the allegations. Consequently, Ndume was suspended for six months by the upper chamber.

While insisting that the lawmakers have no power to embark to slam suspension on their colleagues, Falana said, “The Senate labours under the very erroneous impression that it can do anything, whether allowed by law or not; particularly when it purports to exercise its oversight functions.

“Allegations of crime, certificate forgery, allegations regarding underpayment of Customs duties, are criminal offences that can only be investigated by the appropriate authorities such as the Police.”

“Section 88, which the Senate always relies on, begins with the phrase: “subject to the provisions of this constitution”, which means the powers of the Police, the powers of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the powers of the Attorney General of the Federation, the powers of the President, take precedence over the powers of the Senate to carry out an investigation.

“The Senate with profound respect, the House of Representatives with Profound respect, cannot investigate allegations of crime. That is within the constitutional province of the Police.

“In matters regarding some of the distinguished Senators, the court has made definitive judicial pronouncements. Take, for instance, no legislative House in Nigeria, can suspend a member for one single day and we have a plethora of authorities on this,” he stressed.

“As a member of the House of Representatives, Senator Dino Melaye and 10 others, out of frustration, submitted a petition to the EFCC, alleging criminal diversion of funds by the Dimeji Bankole-led leadership of the House.”

“Dino Melaye and 10 others were suspended indefinitely. I went to court for them and the court said: “Under your own rules, you cannot suspend a member for more than 14 days – Under what law did you suspend these 11 members of the House of Representatives for an indefinitely period of time?”