Chidi Samuel|
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN on Thursday said the Senate “did not get it right” by tagging Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police (IGP), “an enemy of democracy” and that they lacked the constitutional powers to summon the IGP.
The senior advocate of Nigeria who made the assertion while Speaking on a Channels TV programme, also said that the Senate made a mistake by bringing Melaye’s case into the picture.
Falana stated that even though he condemned the arraignment of Melaye while on a stretcher, he had told the lawmakers to not “individualise problems of police brutality”.
“When you do that, you lose public support. It is the height of hypocrisy to say because the police has brutalised our member, the IG must come. What of thousands of Nigerians that are brutalised daily?” he asked.
According to Falana, even with the killings, IGP is not the right person to summon, rather, the minister of interior and the attorney-general of the federation.
“By virtue of section 67 (2) of the constitution, either chamber can summon a minister when the affairs of his or her ministry are under consideration. The only other occasion a public officer can be summoned by the national assembly is when proceedings are ongoing to expose corruption and when a law is being debated either with a view to amending it or to have a new law entirely”, he said.
“But there is no such powers given to the national assembly by the constitution to summon everybody.”
On whether the Senate has the power to summon the president, Falana said, “No. Section 67 (1) has given the president the discretion to address the national assembly either jointly or separately, on any matter of national importance. The president or the governor of a state cannot be summoned; that is the constitution.
“The national assembly has my sympathy, but what can be done? The constitutional review is ongoing. You can deal with this lacuna, or the gaps you have identified.
“But don’t go outside the limit of your powers. When you do that, you ridicule the constitution. And that is what is going on.”