An Appraisal of the Functional Necessity of the Immunity Clause in the Political Governance of Nigeria

Abstract

Immunity is an exemption conferred on a person in order to protect him from litigation or persecution. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended accords immunity to the president, vice-president, governors and deputy governors only. The import of this constitutional conferment is that no civil or criminal proceedings should be instituted against them while in office. This singular feature of the immunity clause emphasizes the functional necessity of the immunity which the constitution canvasses for these political office holders. A trial relating to any crime committed by any of them can commence after their tenure in office expires. This raises the issues that evidence against them might have been destroyed, prosecution witnesses may die before the trial commences and changes in the law can enable them to evade justice.

An Analysis of Neoclassical Elements and Environmental Process of the National Assembly Complex of Nigeria

“…Democracy is a people-centred system of government and a valuable tool to drive political proficiency, economic development and social stability of any nation (Nwanolue et al, 2012;Okeke, 2017). This representative democracy is a means of selecting persons that speak and act on behalf of the people through the election process.…”

Executive immunity clause and its effects on the fight against corruption in Nigeria

“…There are views that the removal of the immunity clause may not stop political corruption by the executive. They believed that more emphasis should have been given to checking impunity which is the biggest problem instead of corruption itself (Emetulu, 2013;Integrity, 2013;Okeke & Okeke, 2015).…”