DEATH PENALTY FOR LOOTERS NOT POSSIBLE: SENATE
The Senate has said it is not possible for it to initiate a bill that prescribes the death penalty for looters.
The red chamber, however, pledged to support any executive or private member bill that would criminalise acts of corruption.
The spokesperson for the Senate, Godiya Akwashiki, stated this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Thursday.
He spoke against a backdrop of some
Nigerians and groups calling for a bill that prescribes the death
penalty for treasury looters instead of the lawmakers devoting time to
social media and hate speech bills.
Akwashiki explained that it was
impossible for the Senate President to direct any senator to produce any
particular bills, including one that prescribes the death penalty for
looters.
“It is not possible for the Senate
President to direct any senator to go and produce a particular type of
bill. All of us are elected to represent our constituency from various
parts of the country,” he said.
The Senate spokesperson also said
different punishments were already prescribed against corruption in the
acts that established the Independent Corrupt Practices and other
related offences Commission, as well as the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission.
“We have the ICPC Act and the EFCC Act
and there are punishments there for offenders. I want to believe we are
going gradually. However, any bill that would criminalise looting is a
good proposal that the Senate could consider,” he said.
Akwashiki, however, said the executive
arm of government, groups or individuals should initiate bills that
prescribe the death penalty for treasury looters and see if the upper
chamber would not push
them through.
He also described as untrue insinuations
that senators, particularly former governors and ministers in the red
chamber, would reject such legislation in order to protect themselves.
He said, “We started a serious fight against corruption a few years ago when President Muhammadu Buhari got into office.
“The issue of a bill against corruption
and looters in the Senate is a constitutional right of every senator,
the executive arm of government, groups or private individuals.
“Anybody in the country is free to
propose a bill through any senator. If you have such a proposal, get in
touch with your senator, sit down with him and convince him why you want
that type of law to be enacted.”
Stressing that the red chamber would
support any bill that criminalises corruption, Akwashiki said, “This
country belongs to all of us. Every person in this country has the right
to present their opinion in terms of enacting an Act for the benefit of
the people.
“When the Senate discovers there are
many people requesting a particular bill, one day, one senator will just
wake up and initiate a proposal and present it before his colleagues.”
He also said not all former governors or former ministers in the red chamber were corrupt.
He said, “We have 109 senators. How many are former governors or ministers?
“Are you saying we could get 60 senators who are either former governors or ministers?
“Senate is a place where everybody is free to express their opinions, according to the wishes of the people who elected them.
“The Senate chamber is higher than any former governor or minister.”
Meanwhile, the Senate spokesperson said
the red chamber had yet to discuss the issue of the death penalty in the
hate speech bill because the proposal still remained the personal
property of the sponsor until it passed second reading.
He said, “The issue of expunging the
death penalty from the hate speech bill is not the decision of the
Senate yet. There is a process of enacting an Act. The bill will pass
first, second and third readings.
“The hate speech bill has just been
mentioned for the first time. It has not come up for a second reading.
It is when it is introduced for the second time that the senators will
for the first time voice out for or against the bill.
“For now, the sponsor has said he will
expunge the clause that prescribes the death penalty for hate speech;
that is his own personal opinion.
“I have said it times without number
that the hate speech bill is a private member bill. When we get to its
second reading, that is when Nigerians will know the position of the
Senate on the bill. If the bill does not pass second reading, that will
be its end.
“The senators may even decide to remove other clauses apart from the death penalty provision.”
Prescribing death penalty for graft’ll be self-indicting –Afenifere
But Yoruba sociocultural group,
Afenifere, said the National Assembly could not prescribe the death
penalty for treasury looters because it would be self-indicting, noting
that it was not surprising that the lawmakers chose to save their own
necks.
The group’s spokesman, Mr Yinka
Odumakin, said most lawmakers would not be alive if the death sentence
was prescribed for corruption.
He stated, “The senators cannot
prescribe the death penalty for looters because they do not want to
sentence themselves to death; it is easier to send others to death. If
you prescribe the death sentence for looters, then a lot of them would
not be alive.”
Afenifere argued that the hate speech
bill was meant to impress President Muhammadu Buhari, advised Nigerians
to resist the bill.
He alleged many leaders of the ruling party engaged in hate speech in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.
Odumakin said, “A few days ago, the
Senate President said they would pass anything President Buhari brought,
which clearly showed the height of their servitude.
“What they are doing is to impress the
President at the expense of the Nigerian people. But Nigerians have to
rise up against this barbaric law they are to make.
“When you compile the speeches of all
APC leaders between 2014 and 2015, the title of the book you would write
is, ‘Hate Speech: Parts One and Two.”
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