Nigerian Concord Newspaper
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has faulted the summons on two state governors, insisting that national lawmakers do not have the power to order a governor or speaker of a state to appear before them.
Falana said, “They do not have such powers. There is no law that grants them such powers, and they cannot hide under Section 82, which only allows them to issue summons when they are amending laws or investigating money they have appropriated. So, how does a governor fit into this?
In a chat with journalists, Falana said, “Their powers are not unlimited. They cannot summon a governor because the governor accounts for appropriated funds in the House of Assembly of his state. They simply cannot do this.
“We have taken this matter to court and obtained an order against them in the case of Sterling Bank versus the Senate.
“You can only summon a public official if you are investigating fraud related to money they have appropriated or if you are in the process of making a new law. Therefore, there is no general authority to summon anyone.
“For example, while the National Assembly can order the arrest of government officials who ignore their summons, can they arrest a governor? You cannot exercise powers you do not possess.
“They seem not to understand that we operate under a federal system. There is no direct link between the National Assembly and a state governor; the governor is not bound by laws made by the National Assembly,” Falana stated.
A constitutional lawyer, Dr Tunji Abayomi, also said the Reps cannot summon them.
He said if the governors failed to answer the summons, they would suffer no consequences
“The governors cannot be summoned by the National Assembly, they don’t have such powers. If the governors refuse to honour the summon or ignore it, nothing will happen to them”, he said.