Saraki Has Not Violated Any Law for Defecting, Says Senior Lawyer

Davidson Iriekpen

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ahmed Raji, has cleared the air that Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has not violated any known law of the land by defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Raji made his position known in an interview with THISDAY, pointing out that it was only the Senate president that the constitution vested with the powers to reconvene the Upper Legislative chamber of the National Assembly.

Although he was quick to point out that he did not believe that some senators were scheming to forcibly reopen the Senate. the senior lawyer said: “I do not think anybody has threatened to forcefully reopen the Senate. What they have said is that they want to appeal to the leadership to reconvene. If you check their rules, it is the prerogative of the president to convene the Senate.”

On the burning issue of legality or otherwise of Saraki’s defection, Raji said any parliamentarian that has defected could lose his seat if there was no division within his party.

He, however, posited that what Saraki has done is presumed legal unless the action is challenged in a court of law.

“Under the constitution, in Section 65, if a parliamentarian defects except there is a division, he may lose his seat. But the question is, is there a division within the APC? Is rAPC a division, if it is held to be a division, he has not violated any law,” said Raji.

The legal practitioner pointed out that the issue of Saraki’s defection could at best be described as a muted one.

He urged the ruling APC to seek a judicial determination of the matter so as to clear the air once and for all.

Raji said:“It has not been tested and it is a muted point unless the court pronounces; nobody can say one way or the other. Until it is challenged, it is presumed that what he has done is legal.

So far, nobody has gone to court to challenge what he has done, until there is judicial intervention, nobody can pronounce if what he has done is against the law or otherwise.”

Raji further said the recent demand by the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, that Saraki should resign his position was founded more on morality.

He reiterated that Oshiomhole’s demand does not have any basis in law.

Raji pointed out that Saraki was not elected as APC Senate president. He wondered why Senator Ike Ekweremadu would be occupying the seat of Deputy Senate President all this while without the ruling party asking him to resign.

He also enlightened on the question of internal politics of the parliament, saying, “While the party majority plays the role, it is not the sole determinant. Nothing in their rules says that someone from minority party cannot be Senate President. But in their rules, the majority leader must come from a party that has majority in the house.”

The lawyer further educated that if party ‘A’ that had been the majority suddenly becomes the minority, that majority leader would turn out the minority leader.

According to him, “In this case, we are not talking of the Senate President that is elected by all of them. It is not APC affairs, but the whole house affair. This is not a parliamentary system of government, but a presidential system of government. So, the question of party discipline, party structure and party hierarchy is more pronounced in parliamentary system of government because both the legislature and the executive are fused.”

Meanwhile, Raji has advised the ruling party to muster the majority of senators if it desires to remove Saraki. Although, he was quick to add that the majority must be 2/3 of senators to constitutionally undertake his removal as Senate President.

Also on what Raji expected of Saraki when he reconvenes the house, he posited that nothing else was expected of the Senate president than to constitutionally discharged his duties. “He was elected by them and until they withdrawal the mandate, what else do you expect him to do. He hasn’t said that he is tired of the office. I expect him to discharge his duties as a responsible citizen and to pilot the affairs of the senate without rancour and without any fear or favour,” said Raji.

He again said that the issue between Saraki and APC might have been bothered on conflict of interests.

He recalled that APC was an amalgam of ACN, CPC, ANPP and the then nPDP.

He described ACN and CPC as the dominant partners, adding that he would not know what was agreed and what was not agreed during the process of amalgamation of the parties.

“It is more of a power play among the component units. He is not acting alone, almost all the senators are with him. And when it comes to the consistuency projects which is one of the major accusations against him, he is not alone. He didn’t site all the projects in Ilorin. They are all ad idem,” Raji submitted.