By J.S. Okutepa, SAN
Each time, I see how lawlessness is celebrated in Nigeria by those who profit from the desecration of our laws and our constitution I am always pained and I weep that almost all those in charge of the affairs of Nigeria and their supporters are just there for themselves and do not respect Nigerian laws and the constitution, and they do not mean well for Nigeria and rest other Nigerians and they are not true leaders and citizens that have the love of Nigerians and Nigeria at heart.
The Nigerian state is seen and deemed as their private estate and property. They do with it as they like, and they do so in conspiracy with themselves, their supporters, and other institutions that should act as checks and balances. The National Assembly which ought to make laws for peace, order and good government as lawmakers has over the years engaged in breaking the constitution and always in disobedience to laws, the constitution and court orders or decisions and binding precedents and they have continued to do so with the audacity of impunity in the suspension of the representatives of the people in the National Assembly without any remorse shown thereafter.
When I speak of law in this context, I am speaking of the Nigerian constitution and judicial precedents, which are parts of the laws that guide the decisions of our courts or decisions of any other person or authorities. I am not sure there are no lawyers in the National Assembly. From my knowledge of the National Assembly, there are many lawyers there who are of considerable years of legal practice.
Are the rules of professional conduct in the legal profession not binding on these lawyers in the National Assembly in the discharge of their duties in the National Assembly? I think it does. It is the duty of all lawyers whether in the National Assembly or anywhere to foster the cause of justice and defend and promote the rule of law and must not act or do anything that make a mockery of the rule of law or to obstruct the cause of justice. It is our duty as lawyers not to undermine the laws of the land and the Constitution. It is our duty to take the parts of honour and obey the laws and not to disregard the laws in support of primordial partisan selfish interests. To do so is a breach of the code of conduct in the legal profession.
There are several decisions of the Court of Appeal, the second highest court in Nigeria, that have held consistently that the National Assembly has no power to suspend any member of Parliament and even if it must suspend its members it cannot do so more than 14 days. These decisions are parts of our laws that the National Assembly has the duties and responsibilities to observe and obey in accordance with section 287(2) of the 1999 constitution. The right of a senator to sit mandatorily for not less than 180 days legislative year in the National Assembly is a constitutional right that is not negotiable. The right to fair hearing is a constitutional right and it is in chapter 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. The Constitution is the Supreme law of the land, and all actions must be done in accordance with the Constitution. This is what the constitution says in sections 1(1) and (3). Each member of the National Assembly is sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution.
These decisions, like Ndume’s case, Omo Agege’s case, Dino Melaye’s case, and hosts of others are there to be referred to and guide the National Assembly in any decisions they intend to take against any of the members of the National Assembly. But each National Assembly from 1999 till date has engaged in decisions of suspension of members as if they are deaf to these decisions. No member of the National Assembly or even state Houses of Assembly is an employee of the Assembly. No, they are not. Members of parliament are employees of the people they represent.
Each time they take decision against their members, they usually say you can go to court. It is our inability as a people to respect laws and decisions of court that have led to the unreasonable high in the dockets of our courts. If each institution in Nigeria pays respect to law and the rule of law and decisions of the court which are precedents Nigerian courts will not be so clogged with so many cases to the detriment of the health of judicial officers who have to be assigned to deal with these unnecessary cases. Our electoral contests are not thuggery and thuggish selections. These uncouth and uncivilised conducts are anti-laws and unconstitutional. Yet some of these barbaric conducts are sometimes supported, aided and abetted by some lawyers in the name of primordial partisan political interests.
The leadership of NBA must, as of necessity, look at the conduct of its members who are in public service or political offices whose conduct aids and abets the desecration of the rule of law and the cause of justice and must bring them before the legal practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers no matter how highly placed. We cannot as a noble profession tolerate the most intolerable misuse of power in breach of the Nigerian constitution and all other laws connected therewith and plead that it is politics outside the decency of conduct expected of us as members of the legal profession. Any lawyer whose conduct in political office undermined the rule of law or who fuels and contaminates of the purity of justice must be made to face disciplinary processes. I said this because the application of rule 1 of the rules of professional conduct is universal to all lawyers and not restricted to only lawyers who go to courts as advocates.
For me, until we take discipline seriously and all negative actions are visited with sanctions, the much-needed respect for law and order will elude us as a nation. It is an elementary principle of law of considerable antiquity that no one can be a judge in his own case. In the case of the National Assembly, it has always been the accuser, the prosecutor, and the judge in cases it makes allegations against its members. Even when there are precedents that it can not do so it has always done so without regard to the previous decisions of the courts on the same procedural steps. And lawyers in the National Assembly have always in most cases stood by and had done nothing in breach of the duties they owe the legal profession. We must look at this seriously.
In my view any rules of the National Assembly or even the States Houses of Assembly that enure in the favour of the right to take decisions against their own when they are the accuser the prosecutors and the judges all rolled in one are all contrary to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which reserved adjudicatory powers in our courts. I hold the respectful view that even if the National Assembly or any the State Houses of Assembly has the inbuilt powers for internal disciplines, it is my view that those who are accused of wrong doings should not be part of those to take decisions against the erring members. To do so will be against the principle of fair hearing. But in the just concluded Sen Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan’ s six months suspension the president of the Senate who was accused by Natasha whether rightly or wrongly was the one that presided over the setting where decisions to suspend Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan was taken.
For me, even if the Senate President was not actuated by malice, his decision to preside over the proceedings in which Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan was suspended was completely a negation of the principle of natural justice and a breach of section 36(1) of the 1999 constitution. The rule of law was thereby murdered and the principle that justice must not only be done but must manifestly be seen to have been done was thereby murdered and slaughtered on the primordial partisan selfish interests. This is not good for our image in the comity of civilized nations.
In conclusion, I can not resist the temptation to quote the view of the former First Lady of Ekiti State Mrs Bisi Adeyemi Fayemi when she said NOT ABOUT NATASHA: According to Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi “What happened in the Senate Chambers on March 6th, 2025, was a travesty. The impunity and disregard were breathtaking. The Senate President should have demonstrated leadership by allowing someone else to receive the petition against him. You can not sit in judgement over a case that involves you. As if that was not bad enough, there was a rush to suspend Senator Natasha for six months, minus her privileges, even when there are court rulings that suspending legislators for more than 14 days is detrimental to their representational functions. This was clearly designed to humiliate, punish, and demean Senator Natasha as much as possible. Time and history will be the judge of all concerned. In my own opinion, this is not about Senator Natasha”. I have nothing more useful to add.
