Nigeria’s most vocal opposition party, the Action Congress (AC), has condemned the plan by federal legislators to surreptitiously grant themselves and their state counterparts the kind of immunity from arrest and prosecution now being enjoyed by the President, Vice President and the governors of the 36 states.
In a statement, issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary,Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and made available to PANA here, the party said the bill,which, according to media reports, had scaled second reading in the House, could create a new set of ‘untouchables’ if passed into law.
The party therefore asked all Nigerians to rise against this selfish move by a few elected officials, who are now lording themselves over those who elected them into office and who believe they should be above the laws of the land.
It said if the ill-advised move was aimed at curbing the excesses of the security agencies, as claimed by some of its supporters, it showed that the lawmakers were nothing but a bunch of selfish people, since all they were seeking to do was to protect themselves alone, not those who elected them into office.
AC said innocent Nigerians were being illegally arrested or mowed down daily by trigger-happy security agents, but those who were supposed to be the representatives of the same people were taking to a flight of fantasy by seeking to create a new law to protect themselves only, instead of protecting those who elected them.
The party expressed shock that such a law was being muted at a time when Nigerians were clamouring for the removal of the immunity clause from the country’s constitution and at a time when the highest court in Italy, for example, had just ruled that such immunity laws violated the principle of the equality of man.
It praised the two lawmakers, Ita Enang and Emmanuel Deeyah, who opposed the bill, for their courage and sense of decency.
AC said the reason for the bill was the recent arrest of some lawmakers over their alleged involvement in the 5.2 billion naira (about US$ 350 million) fraud inthe Rural Electrification Agency.
“What these over-pampered lawmakers are saying is that they see Nigeria as one huge Animal Farm, where some animals are more equal, or should be more equal, than others. It is time to call them to order, otherwise they will soon come up with a law that says only federal and state lawmakers are entitled to good life,’ the party said.