The on-going spat between the House of Representatives and the Petroleum Minister Diezani Allison Madueke has now moved away from the arena of head-hunting legislative harassment to the realm of judicial adjudication on the constitutionality of arbitrary blanket subordination of a minister’s status under the Executive arm to oversight functions of the Legislature. This is a welcome option for a mature and independent overview of the peculiar targeting of Minister Diezani by the Tambuwal-led House of Representatives, in a manner indicative of political malice against the Minister by an unapologetic opposition serving lower chamber. Not even the Speaker of the House can convincingly project the serial-summoning and persistent persecution of one particular minister in the federal cabinet as being solely motivated by legislative interest. So it is not only in the interest of the victimized minister but also to preserve the credibility of the constitutional provisions for separation of powers, that such lacuna for unleashing legislative powers against perceived political soft targets by partisan legislators be excised.
This much-needed sanitization of the oversight functions of the legislature by definitive judicial determination of their necessary scope and limits is the main objective of the latest suit against the legislature’s stalking of Minister Diezani under the guise of exercising oversight functions to fight corruption. It is yet another evidence of the minister’s unfazed squaring-up to the bullish obsession of the APC legislators in the House with smearing the persons, institutions and processes involved in management of the nation’s petroleum sector and discrediting the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency in the process. The Lamido Sanusi Saga provided a high-definition insight into the conspiratorial strategy behind the APC campaign of calumny from the roles of the figure-flunking ex-CBN governor and the permissive latitude extended to him by the colluding committee of the House in staging propaganda stunt over the bogus 49/20/12 billion dollar missing from Nigeria’s oil sales proceeds. Despite the monumental failure of that sleaze which back-fired badly on Sanusi’s chequered career and spotlighted the fictitious foundations of the opposition’s “crusade” against corruption, the Tambuwal-led House has persisted with its perfidy by opening yet another front in its anti-Diezani agenda. Its latest House resolution to investigate Shell and the minister over yet another “alleged illegal” sale of Oil Mining License 29, proves beyond any doubt the malicious motivations of the House.
Since the House of Representative has given cause for the public to doubt the genuineness of its avowed “honourable” mission to fight corruption in this glaring manner, the clear and present danger of brazen abuse of legislative oversight functions which their misconduct highlights should not be glossed over for malicious political convenience. Apart from the proven fallibility of several honourable members to the virus of dishonourable conduct and corrupt tendencies – even Speaker Tambuwal uses chartered jets paid for by the House without appropriation- , the integrity of the constitutional provision for separation of powers must not be at the mercy of the malicious recourse to legislative oversight against a legitimately elected government, its President and his ministers and agencies. Today it is about Diezani and the NNPC, but the disruptive and distractive impact on governance within the Petroleum Ministry and the NNPC, regardless of their strategic economic importance, cannot be underplayed if the timeless national interest is uppermost of considerations. There must be a bold resolve to protect issues of national interest and good governance from vicissitudes of petty partisan political rivalry playing out in the legislative chambers through abuse of legislative functions such as oversight of the Executive. This is where Minister Diezani’s mature recourse to the judiciary can be better appreciated in addition to her bold and courageous response of getting on with her job unperturbed by the irritating interest of the House in literally hounding her out of office.
Specifically, the judicial challenge of the indiscriminate recourse to oversight power of the legislature for political persecution of the Executive initiated in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/346/2014 emphasizes “that by law, the respondents are enjoined to seek the consent of the President before ordering the applicants to tender the official unpublished papers, books, and records” and further that “all the documents being requested of the applicants by the respondents are unpublished official records, and the respondents in all their invitations have never shown to the applicants, any such evidence of presidential consent, after numerous demands made by the applicants that they do so.”
The suit cited Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended and Section 8 of the Legislatives Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act Cap. L12 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2010 and sought ‘‘an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from summoning them or any agencies under their supervision or control, to appear before them for the purpose of giving evidence which relate to the unpublished official records of the Applicants without the consent of the President.’’
Another significant thrust of the suit is highlighted in its urging the court to declare that the respondents lacked the power “to conduct investigation into allegations of fraud, corruption or other criminal activities said to have occurred in the agencies under the applicants’ supervision or control when such probe or investigation is not for the purpose of enabling the respondents make laws or correct any defect in existing laws.”
It stands to reason that in the same way the National Assembly rises to shield its members from police summons and arrest warrants on the grounds that such processes should be channelled through its leadership, ministers under President of the Federal Republic should not be ordered around and subjected to the procedural pressure of obeying instructions from the legislature without consent of Mr President. Thus, due process that upholds the principle of separation of powers in the exercise of legislative functions over the Executive is a necessity predicated on the cited relevant Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution which has established a process for access and retrieval of certain documentary information within the Executive arm.
No less important in the reformatory objectives of the Diezanni-NNPC law suit is the focus on the ultimate purpose of legislative inquiries, probes and hearings as defined by the constitution which is categorically tied to “the purpose of enabling the respondents make laws or correct any defect in existing laws.” Respecting this very fundamental provision governing legislative probes will surely restore purpose and sanity to the prevailing predatory political predilection of legislative oversight functions and public hearings, particularly in respect of Minister Diezanni and the NNPC. There will be need for more circumspection and pre-validation of the wild and concocted allegations that usually form the basis for vexatious summons, hearings and other vindictive legislative “oversight” activities currently in shameless vogue among honourable legislators. Above all, it shall be made known to all and sundry how the subject matter relates to law-making or law-amending duties of the legislature, effectively relieving the legislature of its self-imposed ill-suited role of accuser, investigator and judge in its dubious anti-corruption posture, now seen in its true colours.
It is hoped that the selfless and patriotic motivations behind Minister Diezanni and the NNPC’s move to restore due process, law and order into the exercise of legislative oversight functions over the Executive will meet with the noble arbitration and wise adjudication expected of the Judiciary as it stands between the other two estates of the realm in moderating a workable interrelationship for the success of our democratic dispensation in the service of our people.
SARATU TOBI wrote from Kaduna
