By Tonye Clinton Jaja
On Friday 14th March 2025, an online newspaper reported that:
“Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, representing Ondo South Senatorial District, has declared that the petition filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan regarding her suspension from the Senate cannot be considered by the Interparliamentary Union (IPU).”
He alleged that: “Ibrahim clarified the workings of the IPU, emphasizing that it is Nigeria, not individual members, that is a member of the union. According to him, only another member State can file a petition against Nigeria, not an individual.”
However, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim’s claims are not true or accurate.
Contrary to his allegations, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition which she submitted on 11th March 2025 to the IPU is going to be considered by the IPU in accordance with the Statutes and Rules of the IPU, 2024.
This is because Senator Natasha’s petition was submitted to the Women In Parliament session of the IPU, which in turn would submit Senator Natasha’s petition on her behalf to the IPU.
According to the Statutes of the IPU, 2024, there are Rules of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians (page 52) this set of Rules permits the said Forum of Women Parliamentarians to submit petitions to the IPU on behalf of Women Parliamentarians such as Senator Natasha.
This is a newly created special set of Rules that creates an exception to the general Rule that only Member States can submit Petitions to the IPU.
Further evidence that the new IPU Statues that was introduced in the year 2024 introduced new Rules that were previously non-existent is the Special Rules and Procedure to Regulate Conduct of Virtual Sessions of the Governing Council (page 12) of the Statutes of the IPU, 2024.
So from the foregoing it is evident that Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (who coincidentally is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Relations) did not take his time to study the relevant and most updated laws and Statutes of the IPU, 2024.
Just as the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions that was in an incredible hurry to violate its own Rules regarding Quorum in its hurry to find Senator Natasha guilty of misconduct, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has committed the same blunder!!!
This is a sad, very sad public display of a pre-meditated and prejudicial disposition by both Senator Jimoh Ibrahim and the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
Whereas the more professional approach would be to say “let us allow both parties (Senator Natasha and the Senate President) to present their case before the panel of the IPU and then the panel of the IPU would reach a decision based on the submissions of both parties!!!
Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has revealed himself as someone who is not interested in taking time to study the relevant Rules of the IPU, which is the very institution that the Committee which he chairs is focused on!!!
He appears more interested in making headlines in the newspaper and estacodes accruing from embarking on international trips to IPU conventions.
In the year 2018, I was appointed as an Adjunct Faculty/lecturer at the Institute for Legislative Studies, University of Abuja. Eventually, I was assigned by the Director of the said institute to write the curriculum and lecture notes for a course entitled: “Parliamentary Diplomacy”. It is a course that teaches the inner workings, the laws and procedures of the IPU and other Parliamentary institutions.
I would recommend that Senator Jimoh Ibrahim and indeed all the members of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should undergo the said course!!!
It will hopefully improve and refine their skills in the fine art of Parliamentary Diplomacy both within Nigeria and on the international scene instead of the current “comedy of errors” that some members of the Senate are currently acting out in the full glare of the public!!!
The electronic copy of the 2024
Statutes of the Inter-Parliamentary Union are available online and below is a reproduction of its table of contents:
……………………………………………………….
1
Rules of the Assembly …………………………………………………………………………………
12
Special Rules of Procedure to regulate the conduct
of virtual sessions of the Assembly
21
Rules of the Governing Council …………………………………………………………………….
24
Special Rules of Procedure to regulate the conduct
of virtual sessions of the Governing Council ……………………………………………
31
Rules of the Executive Committee …………………………………………………………………
35
Rules of the Standing Committees ………………………………………………………………..
40
Special Rules of Procedure to regulate the conduct
of virtual sessions of the Standing Committees ………………………………………..
50
Rules of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians ……………………………………………..
52
Rules of the Bureau of Women Parliamentarians …………………………………………….
61
Rules of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians ……………………………………………….
65
Rules and practices of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians”
Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja,
Executive Director,
Nigerian Law Society (NLS).
