Halt this growing Executive impunity

THE testy relationship between the Senate and the Presidency was tried once again last week when a newly-appointed Director-General of the National Lottery Commission, Mr Lanre Gbajabiamila, started functioning without first being confirmed by the Senate.

Section 8(1) of the National Lottery Act stipulates that the D-G’s appointment is subject to the confirmation of the Senate, meaning that without  confirmation, the appointment will not be constitutionally valid.

Senator Dino Melaye had brought the issue before his colleagues at plenary and asked that Gbajabiamila  vacates his post until cleared; a call which the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, gave effect to. Meanwhile,  Acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mrs Habiba Lawal, had apologised over the blunder when the Leader of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, enquired into it. Lawan pleaded with his colleagues that it was an “honest mistake”.

This case becomes more  than meets the ordinary eye in view of the recent and festering decision by the Presidency to ask the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Mustapha Ibrahim Magu, to continue in his position, having failed twice to get the nod of the Senate due to his indictment for corruption in a report by the Directorate of State Services (DSS).

The Presidency had chosen to act on a legal opinion which had argued that the EFCC, being an extra-ministerial body under Section 171(2) of the Constitution, does not fall into the category of offices whose head needs the Senate’s confirmation before he can function. By so doing, the Executive arrogated to itself the power to interprete the law rather than approaching the Supreme Court, the only arm of government empowered by the Constitution to do so.

The rage of the senators, who are still smarting from this presidential impunity, boiled over because they felt that the Executive branch had now formed the habit of appointing officers without following due constitutional  process.

Though the Acting SGF has apologised for this objectionable behaviour by the Executive, we hope this will not be allowed to repeat itself. We still insist that the Supreme Court must be given the opportunity to clear the air on the status of the Chairman of EFCC as soon as possible. It is not healthy for Mr Magu’s case to be swept under the carpet just like that.

Democracy is a system where due process is key. Anything short of that spells impunity and we must not tolerate this growing tendency towards disregard for the rule of law by any governmental institution.

We, however, expect the Senate to accept the apology and ensure it never happens again. This should not bog down the work of the Lottery Commission.

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