Three Senior Advocates of Nigeria and a
former presidential spokesperson, Dr Doyin Okupe, have advised the
leadership of the All Progressives Congress to follow due process in its
attempt to remove the Senate President, Bukola Saraki......
Okupe and the senior lawyers, Professor
Fidelis Oditah (SAN), Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN) and Roland Otaru
(SAN), gave the advice in separate interviews with our correspondents on
Monday.
Okupe said, “The APC should not be too
desperate to remove Saraki. The party should follow due process. The
leadership of the APC should at least mobilize up to 73 senators before
embarking on such an action.”
Gadzama noted that the APC had argued
that the required majority to carry out Saraki’s impeachment should be
calculated from sitting members and not the entire Senate.
“With respect to proponents of this
school of thought, they have missed the point because the language used
in the constitution is explicit. It does not refer to a two-thirds
majority of a quorum but of all the members elected to that chamber.
“For the avoidance of doubt, interested parties can approach the court for a more definite interpretation of the section.”
Otaru in his submission said, “Under
section 50 (2)(c) of the 1999 constitution, the President or Deputy
President of the Senate can only be removed from office by a resolution
of the Senate through the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of
the members of the Senate.
“This provision is unambiguous to the
extent that it means the two-thirds majority of all the members of the
Senate and not just a fraction of the Senate.”
Oditah, supported his arguments by citing cases of impeached presiding officers of the Senate to drive home his point.
He said, “In previous occasions, Senate presidents were impeached and the records are there for everyone to crosscheck.
“In the case of (Evan) Enwerem, about 90
members voted against him, while about 80 voted against (Chuba)
Okadigbo. Trying to remove Saraki with less than 73 senators could be an
invitation to anarchy.”
Meanwhile, the South-West caucus of the
Accord Party on Tuesday in Ibadan rejected Dr Doyin Okupe as its zonal
leader, citing anti-party activity as reason.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the
caucus meeting, the group said that although it had no power to remove
Okupe, a recommendation to the effect would be made to the national
headquarters.
The communiqué reads, “Okupe should,
henceforth, stop parading himself as the South-West leader of our party.
That the South-West caucus of the party views the meeting held in Iperu
with Okupe as of no effect, hence it is null and void.
“The zone hereby declared that its
members who attended the meeting have no power to do so on behalf of the
party, while action is going on to identify the errant members with a
view to sanctioning them. The Accord South-West is one and indivisible
under the leadership of Dokun Babatunde as the National Vice Chairman
and all other national officers from the zone.”
No comments: