It’s Wrong for President to Influence Election of NASS Leaders – OCJ Okocha SAN

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Former Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief O.C.J Okocha, has justified why it is wrong for the President to influence the election of the National Assembly leaders.

Okocha stated this while speaking with Saturday Vanguard in an interview during the weekend.

Recall that Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abbas, respectively, emerged as the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the 10th National Assembly recently.

The emergence of the duo, however, has left citizens and experts alike, pondering the implications for the nation’s democracy.

Speaking on the new leadership of the 10th National Assembly, Okocha said, “It is not right. But you see, it is not done openly. Of course, every governor will be interested in who is heading the legislative arm of his government. The belief is that if you have your own man there, you can be sure that things will flow as you want them to flow.

“It is in the interest of the executive to secure the candidates of his choice for those positions. But democratically, it is wrong. The house should be independent of who should be their heads. So should the Senate which is the other chamber in a bicameral legislature.

“So, it is a human factor. The appointment of heads of court and judges, the truth of the matter is that the roles and functions relating to the appointment of judges and heads of the court like Chief Judges, President of the Customary Court of Appeal, President of the Court of Appeal, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, are all well analysed in the constitution. The NJC does not appoint.

“NJC recommends persons for appointment to such an office. And this was really a well-thought-out decision that was taken a long time ago. They used to have what they called Advisory Judicial Committee (AJC),” he said.

Okocha added, “But now, we have an NJC which is like the recommending authority and when they recommend it, the executive—President, governors— will now make the appointment which will eventually have to be confirmed by the various concerned legislative houses.

“So, this was built into the constitution to secure a measure of independence and also to ensure that all three arms of government are working in synchronization.

“They synchronize themselves so that no particular arm of government can claim entire power or sole authority for the appointment or removal of those judicial officers mentioned.

“So long as matters are handled with objectivity and altruism, things will not go bad. And that is the hope that all of us have”. But it has always been abused,” he said.