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Immunity Clause must go — Mark

By Onyedi Ojiabor, Abuja

The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, has said that the provision of the immunity clause will be removed during the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

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Mark said this on Tuesday at a book presentation to commemorate the silver jubilee of the Episcopacy of the Archbishop of Abuja, Dr. John Onaiyekan.

The Senate has earmarked N1bn for the constitution amendment.

Mark, who insisted that the controversial provision ‘should really go’, however, said that Nigerians should prove that they would give governors the chance to govern when the clause was removed.

He also faulted the argument that the governors would be distracted if the clause was removed.

He said, “I simply don’t believe in the immunity clause. People should be made to answer questions.

“We don‘t have to fear because the general impression is that if you remove it, then the governors will be in court every day.

“I don‘t think so. I think the issue of the immunity clause is that the clause should really go.”

He also noted that the provision was one area of the constitution that the National Assembly needed to look at critically in the interest of the nation.

The Senate President added that the understanding of Nigerians was equally necessary to ensure that governors were not dragged to court on flimsy excuses, if the clause was abolished.

The Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, who was at the occasion, said he was not bothered whether the clause was removed or retained.