Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara has foreclosed any possibility of removing a Nigerian President unless the 1999 Constitution is amended.
Dogara described Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution “a satanic verse” for making it impossible for the National Assembly to remove the President or Vice President.
He spoke yesterday on the topic: “Deepening Democracy: Role of the legislature” at the Third Public Lecture series of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, where he regretted that with provisions of Section 143, the President can choose the laws to obey without any retribution, forgetting that democracy is a government of laws and not of men.
The Speaker, however, noted that the National Assembly has contributed a lot in stabilising and deepening Nigeria’s constitutional democracy through strengthening of due process and the rule of law.
He said democracy cannot thrive without citizens’ active participation because it is the responsibility of the people to protect democracy and hold leaders accountable.
He said: “There can be no democracy without the active participation of the citizens. Any country where the government fear the citizens then it is a democracy.
“The legislature in Nigeria has contributed immensely in deepening the practice of constitutional democracy in Nigeria, especially since the introduction of the 1999 Constitution, in its various functions. If Democracy rests on the Due process and the Rule of Law, it therefore means that our Democracy can only be as deep as the laws upon which it is built”.
The Speaker noted that the 8th House of Representatives under his leadership as Speaker, has made outstanding contributions to deepening democracy in Nigeria through the faithful implementation of its Legislative Agenda, which will serve as a compass of its legislative activities for four years (2015 – 2019) to deepen democracy in Nigeria.
