An All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain and Governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Rev. Dr Adebayo Orire has condemned the plan by the Senate to amend the 1999 constitution to protect lawmakers from all criminal and civil cases, describing the move as shameful.
He called on Nigerians, individuals, Human rights groups and social organisations to rise against such move, pointing out that the the lawmakers seeking for immunity were seeking for impunity, recklessness, deviance, and lawlessness.
The Medical doctor turned politician who warned that if the legislators could succeed in securing themselves the immunity, then “I bet you, the country would not last for ten years, because there would be so much disorderliness, and impunity would be the order of the day, and there would no longer be anything called orderliness in the country.”
Dr Orire argued that the lawmakers lacked the moral right to ask for such protection now, putting into consideration, “the allegation of budget padding, and a very shameful allegation of false declaration of assets being levelled against the leadership of the Senate and more so as Nigerians are being seen as a most corrupt country now”.
He said the idea would not only lead to the failure in war against corruption by President Muhammodu Buhari but would also nullify the efforts, and achievements of Buhari in area of anti corruption war and further make Nigeria a laughing stock in the committee of Nation as an unserious country.
According to him, “What I would have expected the lawmaker to do is to find a way to remove the governor’s immunity and even that of the President, because in all honesty, I want to be governor, and do not feel I should be excluded from investigation, and sanctions if I misbehave, God forbid.”
“Because people in position want to kill, they want to steal, they want want to harrass, do all sort of things that are unspeakable of their position and would want to get away with it without being questioned
“So with the present situation in Nigeria today, with the level of our misdemeanor, and social rating, lawmakers in the Senate, House of Representatives, or even House of Assembly asking for immunity is rape on our Democracy.”
The APC chieftain lambasted Governor Ayo Fayose over his statement while presenting year 2017 budget on the floor of Ekiti state House of Assembly on Tuesday that he (Fayose) himself is the Speaker and that the Speaker, Kola Oluwawole was just there on the seat acting for him as figure head.
Orire who chided Fayose for the statement described the Governor’s utterance as not only derogatory but also show of shame that was directly showing the world that the Governor had no respect for the lawmakers, and particularly the present set of Assembly men n the state.
He noted that “even though the men in house are his boys, he should not have gone to the extent of bringing them down to that level in public, that is uncalled for, that is a decapitation and demeaning of our hallow chamber here in Ekiti by the governor; that reckless statement has rendered all the official activities of the lawmakers null and void; this has presented Ekiti lawmakers as ordinary toothless bulldog, and directionless, figure-head-set of lawmakers, and it is shameful”.
Speaking about his chances of clinching the Governorship ticket in the state in view of the many aspirants that were on daily basis showing interest in the Governorship ticket under the umbrella of APC in the state, Orire insisted that he remained the leader, and best choice.
