Your Excellency, Mr. President,

PETITION FOR IMMUNITY CLAUSE REMOVAL – SECTION 308: Restrictions On Legal Proceedings

CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA (CFN), a not-for-profit, social, voluntary organization of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria – committed to encourage, promote and demand visible, transparent, responsible, sincere and honest leadership at all levels of governance in Nigeria – hereby, on behalf of the Nigerian people, and specifically the undersigned, present this petition to Your Excellency, for forwarding to the National Assembly for necessary action and implementation into law.

The petition is for the immediate removal/withdrawal of the immunity from public prosecution, granted the Executive arm of the Nigerian political class;

• The system of scrutiny whereby any executive is charged with impropriety while in office must be seen to be water-tight to prevent any misuse and abuse. It must be established by law through legislation, to protect diligent, honest, and scrupulous executives from the possible witch-hunt of corrupt lieutenants and others who may feel offended by the actions of such honest executive;

• Recent events and court rulings in Nigeria have shown the immunity clause as an instrument through which some elected executives have amassed personal wealth and abused their positions of trust;

• The removal of the immunity clause would also discourage people whose motivating factor for enlisting in party politics is for personal financial gain at the expense of the electorates;

• The immunity clause, when removed would reduce the “empire building” through “god-fatherism”, negative incumbency factors and other associated vices evident in Nigerian politics;

• Finally, the reality of the possible removal from office of an erring executive would sound a note of warning to would-be executives while reducing the chances of looting of the nation’s treasury.

Signed and Forwarded for and on Behalf of the Nigerian People by CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA

Please Sign Petition

or copy and paste the link below onto your Browser:

http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_beamospetition&pet=2&Itemid=57

Please read on:

Thankfully, we have the United States of America to draw from. The 50 states have operated without the immunity clause for governors for over 150 years, and the country is governed very well. We do not see why Nigeria should not expunge it, especially in light of overwhelming abuse of public office by governors.

The US has no immunity clause, since 1787 when Delaware was created as the first state.

From our review of articles and research from such sources as the Harvard Law Review, the immunity clause was supposed to act as a check on the US Judiciary, to ensure State Governors are not harassed by the Judiciary

In the US, 2 Vice Presidents and 5 Governors have been removed in the last 220 years while in office for corruption. Within hours a Deputy Governor was sworn in, and therefore created no break in governance.

While the Governor only operates in one small state, and his removal cannot affect a nation, in the US constitution, even though there is no immunity for the President, in practice he has some kind of immunity while in office, as his position is sensitive.

In Nigeria, within the last 6 months alone, several Governors have been removed while in office over electoral irregularities and it has not caused any major problems as alternatives were sworn in almost immediately. What has not been tested is removal of a sitting President while in office. We would assume a sitting Vice President might as well be sworn in, under that circumstance.

In our opinion, given the widespread abuse of executive power, Governors now have excessive power and distort our system of checks and balances.

Judges can be removed by their superiors when they err. Legislators have been removed, but only governors and their deputies seem to be untouchable. They are able to buy the state legislators, national legislators, militias, thugs, etc.

The Champions For Nigeria (CFN) would advocate for expunging the immunity clause, for criminal (murder) and corruption cases only. Executives could have limited immunity for civil cases, so that nobody can sue the President or Governor, because of decisions they took while carrying out their duties.

Not acting in itself in the face of eviscerating abuse would be negligent on the part of the National Assembly.

Worse case scenario, action is needed, and if it is catastrophic, the assembly can reconvene and ratify it. The US constitution is not set in stone; it has been amended several times.

Please sign our petition by copying and pasting the following link on your web browser:

http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_beamospetition&pet=2&Itemid=57

And, please forward it on to your contacts.

Thank you,

Signed and Forwarded for and on Behalf of the Nigerian People by CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA

Robot  Villager

# 1 Dear Fellow Nigerians, Please read the petition below and if you are interested, though we urge you ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 10.02.2008 13:19

Babatoks  Villager

# 2 Quite rightly, we all want a Nigerian state that is a model of excellence and a place of pride. However, we need to understand what the reality on the ground is. We need to ask ourselves what are our present day constraints? If, removing the immunity clause - as proposed - is the best way to instill the necessary fears in the minds of incorrigible and fearless thieves who loiter the political arena for the purpose of winning voters' mandate in Nigeria of today, so be it. If, however, in twenty (or fifty) years time, it is realized that the removed immunity clause is doing more harm than good, there would always be constitutional lawyers and there would always be a National Assembly (by the grace of God), let them do their job and prescribe a befitting dosage of protection for the democracy of the time. No constitution is ever static. Democracy is an on-going experience of necessary change as prescribed by the people. Today's Nigerian political class is filled with people whose urge for power - and greed to amass wealth at the expense of the citizens - require an urgent check and we need this or some more viable alternative. We would not fold our arms because it is making some people uncomfortable. What alternatives do we have now? Posted by Babatoks| 11.02.2008 03:22

Temisan  Villager

# 3 It would be nice to hold our elected officers accountable while in office. However, there are some compelling arguments for the immunity clause. Can you imagine the Obasanjo years without it -- Orji Kalu and Atiku could have been jailed on one fallacious charge or another. As much as I'd like to see the former jailed, I believe that our federal government is already too powerful (i.e. controlling the Police) to weild such power fairly. The immunity clause is therfore needed to ensure some degree of autonomy at the state level. Yar'Adua and his cronies are merely engaging in populist grandstanding. Posted by Temisan| 11.02.2008 16:27