Reps propose immunity for Senate president, speaker, judicial officers

The House of Representatives Committee on Constitutional Reviews has recommended that the Senate president, speaker, and heads of the judiciary be granted immunity.

This is contained in Ahmed Wase, the chairman of the Constitution Review Committeereport ,’s on the constitution amendment bill, which was presented to the House on Wednesday in Abuja.

The committee recommended immunity for presiding officers of the legislature and judiciary in the reports presented by Mr Wase.
While briefing journalists, Benjamin Kalu, the house’s spokesperson, alluded to this, saying that since the executive has immunity, the legislature should as well.

He went on to say that the legislature should be included in the security council’s decision-making process.

The bill was sponsored by Segun Odebunmi (APC-Oyo) and was titled “An Act to Amend Section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to extend immunity to cover presiding officers of legislative institutions.”

During a meeting between the committee and consultants, the committee had previously lowered the bill. During the meeting, several members of the committee spoke out against the bill.

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One of the committee’s consultants, Abdulhamid Mohammed (SAN), was against the bill’s immunity clause.

“Immunity for judicial officers and presiding officers is extremely unusual all over the world.” From a moral standpoint, this is self-serving,” he argued.

“You will now apply before judicial officers because these are courts of competent jurisdiction,” he added.