On May 10, 2024, a claim went viral on X (formerly Twitter) that the speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku suspended three lawmakers for inviting native doctors to the assembly complex.
Another version of the claim, widely circulated on X, reads: “BREAKING: Three Edo Lawmakers Suspended for Allegedly Bringing Native Doctors to Assembly Complex to Perform Ritual”
There are insinuations that the suspended legislators are known supporters of the ousted deputy governor, Philip Shaibu. This suspension is coming weeks after Philip Shuaibu was impeached by the assembly.
Claim: Edo assembly speaker suspends three lawmakers for bringing native doctors to the assembly complex.
ALL WE KNOW
On May 6, 2024, the speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku suspended three House of Assembly members. The CDD War Room found that the suspended members are Donald Okogbe (PDP Akoko-Edo II), Bright Iyamu (PDP-Orihonmwon South), and Adeh Isibor (Esan North East 1).
According to the speaker, the (suspended) lawmakers attempted to change the leadership of the house through diabolical means. He said “the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on the house premises exposed the spiritualist and the lawmakers who hired him.
They are being influenced to cause chaos in this house by planning to change the leadership of this house by impeachment. But to God be the glory, they were exposed. They did not end there, they brought a herbalist into this house of assembly premises to plant some charms in the compound by 1 am in the morning without knowing that the CCTV cameras will expose their nocturnal act.”
However, the suspended lawmakers denied the allegations of bringing native doctors into the assembly complex. According to Donald Okogbe, one of the suspended lawmakers, “the suspension is purely a vendetta that is politically motivated. The speaker acted with impunity and has become a tyrant in the red chair and has become one man suppressing the democratic ideals of the House.
The allegations levelled against me and others are completely untrue and as a Christian, I hold strongly to my Catholic ideals. I do not have a hand in the ritual and I do not do ritual.”
Okogbe noted that the speaker, by the rules of the House and the Nigerian constitution, did not have the power to unilaterally suspend a member. Following the suspension, the plenary session was thrown into a rowdy session and the sitting was adjourned.
Constitutional Provision for the Suspension of a Lawmaker
The Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2018, is an Act, which defines certain powers, privileges, and immunities of the Legislative Houses established under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and of the members of such Legislative Houses. This act is to regulate the conduct of members and other persons connected with the proceedings thereof and for matters concerned therewith.
According to this act, there is no section that specifies the procedures for the suspension of a lawmaker. However, Section 22 (2 & 3) specified that:
(2) Where any member is guilty of contempt of a Legislative House, the House, may by resolution, reprimand such member or suspend him from the service of the House for such period as it may determine:
Provided that such period shall not extend beyond the last day of the meeting next following that in which the resolution is passed, or of the session in which the resolution is passed, whichever shall first occur.
(3) No salary or allowance payable to a member of a Legislative House for his service as such shall be paid in respect of any period during which he is suspended from the service of the House under the provisions of this section.
The interpretation of this section is that a legislator guilty of contempt of a legislative house can be reprimanded or suspended by the resolution of the house for a period of time.
Similarly, we found multiple Appeal Court judgments where the court ruled that the suspension of legislators indefinitely was illegal. The CDD War Room found an Appeal Court judgment where the court ruled in favor of Harsanu Guyaba, stating that the suspension of the lawmaker as a member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly for three months was illegal. The judgment titled Bauchi State House of Assembly & ors v Guyaba was delivered in 2017.
We found a similar judgment in the case of Akinribido v Ondo State House of Assembly. The Court of Appeal dismissed the stay of execution suit filed by the Ondo state House of Assembly against the High Court’s judgment nullifying the suspension of four lawmakers of the house’s leadership. The High Court set aside the suspension and ruled that the suspension could not exceed one legislative day. In November 2020, the Appellate Court also ruled that the lawmakers should resume their legislative functions without any hindrance.
Recently, a legal luminary, Femi Falana, while reacting to the suspension of Abdul Ningi, a senator representing Bauchi state noted that “The High Courts of some states and the Court of Appeal have held that no parliament in Nigeria has the power to suspend or expel a legislator and confiscate his salaries and allowances. He added that the suspension of Senator Ningi and the denial of his entitlements are illegal and unconstitutional in every material particular.”
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