NASS, State Assemblies Can Sit Without Mace – Lawyers
Bukola Saraki
Senior lawyers in the country yesterday demystified the popular legislative myth that the federal and state legislatures cannot sit without the Mace in the chamber, saying there is no provision for its use in Nigeria’s constitution.
In Nigeria’s parliamentary system, the mace is considered as the symbol of authority in the legislative process and without it, plenary sessions at the chambers of National Assembly and state assemblies are considered illegitimate. When armed thugs led by suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta South) invaded the Senate chamber and forcefully carted away the mace last Wednesday, plenary session in the Red Chamber was disrupted, only for the lawmakers to resume sitting when a new mace was brought to replace the stolen one.
But the legal experts, including members of the inner bar, who spoke to LEADERSHIP yesterday agreed with Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Femi Falana (SAN), that the invasion of the Senate by the hoodlums who made away with the Mace and the trouble that followed the incident were unnecessary.
Falana had opened the debate on the significance of the Mace to the country’s legislative process yesterday when he pointed out that the incident, which occurred in the Senate last week, was uncalled for because the legislature has no need for the Mace before it could deliberate on any matter.
He spoke at the unveiling of the new 44 feet Gani Fawehinmi statue at the Liberty Park, Ojota, built by the Lagos State government in commemoration of the 80th posthumous birthday of the late legal luminary.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said, “For the lawmakers in Abuja, Gani Fawehinmi would have wanted to warn those fighting over the Mace. I am happy that there are many lawyers here and also the Attorney General of Lagos.
There is no provision for Mace in the Nigerian constitution. There are 320 sections in the constitution and there is nowhere any reference was made to the Mace. “So, why are they fighting over something that is unknown to the constitution? It is not true that before the House must sit, there must be a Mace. It is a convention of the British parliament. We have imported a colonial idea and we are fighting ourselves over it”.
The learned silk also stressed that some streets named after those he described as criminals and colonial masters such as Lugard, Bourdillon, Kingsway, Leventis and James Robertson, should be renamed to bear indigenous names of exemplary citizens.
He described the colonial masters as ‘colonial criminals’ who were, according to him, slave traders who stole the nation’s vast resources. Falana extolled the virtues of the late Gani, describing him as a shining example of a man who stood for justice, accountability, relevance, transparency in government, and one who was a thorn in the flesh of dictators.
The activist lawyer applauded the Lagos state government for the gesture of erecting the statue, which is 34 feet in height, standing on a 10-foot pedestal, making it a massively imposing edifice to behold at the Ojota Park. Some other senior advocates of Nigeria who spoke to LEADERSHIP on Falana’s position regarding the importance of the Mace in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly agreed that the parliamentary instrument is not important to the legislative process.
Another learned silk, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), said, “We have only been following procedural custom inherited from House of Commons in England. It is only our staunch culture of indiscipline that has made nuisance of it as if it is so important.
It is when people developed the attitude of snatching and taking the Mace away from Houses of Assembly that people started attaching unnecessary value to it. It got to a point somebody carried it and hit another person’s head in Port Harcourt those days.
“The Mace has no constitutional value or requirement for the sitting of Houses of Assembly. Its use was just an inheritance from legislative houses of our colonial master. It is just the same way the Speaker knocks the gavel three times to confirm a conclusion or resolution in a debate in the house.
There is nowhere such was mentioned too in the constitution. It is just meant to give glory and finesse to the business of the House or Senate’’. Also, Sabastine T. Hon (SAN), another member of the inner bar, maintained that no part of the constitution makes it a must for the National Assembly or the state assemblies to use or adopt the Mace as a symbol of authority.
He said, “There is no part of the constitution that makes it mandatory for any legislative house to use or adopt a Mace as symbol of authority or as item conferring legitimacy.
The use of mace has historical root in Anglo-Saxon parliamentary practices. It only has historical importance. “Under our constitution, once the legislative house has convocated or proclaimed after each 4 years, its authority comes into existence and all the trappings of the constitutional legitimacy are as such conferred on it’’.
Another senior lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), agreed that although the Mace might be a symbol of authority, it cannot invalidate the proceedings of the House if it is not present. “It is a symbol of authority which is also used in some of our courts but it cannot invalidate the proceedings of the House if it is not used. They can sit without it. It is just a symbol of authority”.
There are however other senior lawyers who disagreed with Falana on the significance of the Mace to the legislative process. Lagos Lawyer, Norrison Ibinabo Quakers (SAN), who agreed with Falana that there is no constitutional provision that the Mace must be present before the National Assembly can sit, however said that since the law recognises the standing rules of the lawmakers, which makes provision for the Mace, it cannot be said that the Mace is unconstitutional. Quakers said, “I don’t think that the Mace is unlawful because it symbolises the authority and powers of the lawmakers. It can be compared to what is refers to in the military as the flags colours. In the military the colours are the symbols of authority and power and whoever is in control of the flags is in charge of the military. “That is why the flags are in the possession of the president and military men are stationed in the villa to guard it with their lives.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria also has a similar symbol that is always present during their sittings. “So when you understand it that way you will also understand why the Mace is also important to the lawmakers,” he stressed.
Another senior advocate, Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN), also said although it is not in the constitution, it has been a long time Convention that cannot be wished away. He said, “It can’t be in the Constitution because it is too domestic. It is now a Convention that can’t be wished away. Nobody can say it does not matter, I think it matters.
The Mace is also used in the Court of Appeal and at the Supreme Court”. An Abuja based lawyer, Eniafe Ojo, agreed with Malam Ali that the use of the mace has become an acceptable convention, which the legislature can’t discard at this time. “We are supposed to be progressing in our democratic system not regressing.
The use of the Mace has become a convention, which we can’t afford to discard at this moment. We should be progressing in our democratic system, not regressing”, he said. Our Rules Permit Its Usage – Lawmakers But the lawmakers at the National Assembly faulted the positions of the lawyers, saying the rules of the federal legislature demands that the Mace be used as a symbol of authority during sittings.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon Abdulrazak Namdas, explained that the 1999 constitution (as amended) empowers each chambers of the National Assembly to make its own rules. He added that the lawmakers are loyal to the rules that they have set for themselves.
“The Constitution empowers us to make our own rules and this is the rule that we have set for ourselves. The learned SAN, Falana should know this. So, we are following the rules,” he said. Section 60 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) states: “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Senate or the House of Representatives shall have power to regulate its own procedure, including the procedure for summoning and recess of the House.”
Source: Leadership
