The Speaker of the
House, Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday said those calling for his prosecution for
his alleged involvement in the fraudulent manipulation of the 2016 budget were
doing so out of sheer ignorance.
Mr. Dogara said the
laws governing the National Assembly accorded all lawmakers a great degree of
immunity from prosecution on the basis of exercising their legislative
functions.
“It doesn’t even
make sense and they have forgotten about Section 30 of the Legislative Houses
(Powers and Privileges) Act, and others” which says “most of the things we do
in the National Assembly are privileged,” Mr. Dogara said.
“They cannot be
grounds for any investigation on the procedure or proceedings to commence
against a member of parliament, either the Speaker or the President of the
Senate, once they are done in the exercise of their proper functions.”
“The Constitution
talks about the estimates of revenue and expenditure to be prepared and laid
before the National Assembly. The constitution did not mention the word budget.
And the reason is very simple. Budget is a law.
”Going by very
pedestrian understanding of law which even a part one law student can tell is
that the functions of government is such that the legislature makes the law,
executive implements and the judiciary interprets the law,” Mr. Dogara said.
“The budget being a
law, therefore, means it is only the parliament that can make it because it is
a law. And I challenge all of us members the media and civil society
organisations to look at our law and tell me where it is written that the
president can make a budget,” Mr. Dogara said.
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