Don Warns Against Removal Of Immunity Clause

Jude Ossai , Enugu - 22.03.2008

A Professor of Constitutional Law, Abia State University, Uturu, and a human rights activist, Richard Achara, has cautioned against the removal of the immunity clause from the constitution, saying it could be counter-productive.

Achara, a one time chairman of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Enugu State Chapter, stated at an interactive session at a forum organised by an NGO, Civil Rights Concern, Enugu, that caution should be applied in calling for the scraping of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution that provided for the immunity clause.

The university don noted that Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution gave immunity against the institution of legal suit against the president, his vice and the state governors and their deputies while in office.

The legal luminary said instead of calling for the removal of the clause, the constitution should be amended, because an outright removal of the immunity clause would jeopardise and derail smooth governance.

He opined that instead of the removal of the immunity from the president, that of his vice, the governors and their deputies should be removed since they held a lesser responsibility.

Achara stated that thte nation’s woes were not occasioned by the immunity clause. According to him, it is not the clause that fans the embers of corruption ravaging the nation.

He suggested instead that the state apparatuses put in place to check corruption and official excesses should be fortified to forestall corruption.

These organs, he pointed out, include the NASS, the state assemblies and the anti-graft commissions like EFCC, ICPC, SSS and the Code of Conduct Bureau.