The House of Representatives on Thursday condemned the intentional refusal of the executive arm of government to obey court judgments/orders and the public admission of same by government officials.
The House then mandated its committee on Judiciary to interface with the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, the Director-General of the Department of State Service, Lawan Daura, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and other stakeholders on the effects of disobedience of court judgments/orders by the Federal Government and its damage to the image of the nation
The Committee is expected to report back in six weeks time for further legislative action.
The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Hon. Mark Terseer Gbillah, titled, “adverse consequences of the refusal of the Federal government to obey court judgements/Orders”.
He lamented that, the refusal of the Federal Government to obey court orders was an affront on the rule of law, a threat to the doctrine of separation of powers, a recipe for anarchy and a calculated attempt to foist an authoritarian government on Nigeria in a supposedly democratic dispensation.
According to him, “the plethora of judgments/orders that have been flagrantly disobeyed by the Federal Government, including its initial refusal to release Nnamdi Kanu and the continued detention of Col. Samba Dasuki (retd) and Sheikh El-Zakzaky after they had been granted bail.
“The revelation that over one hundred (100) court judgments/orders are currently being disregarded by various State Governments and also the increasing incidence of disobedience of court judgments/orders by private entities and individuals, apparently emboldened by similar actions of governments.
“Recalls the Presidential Media chat of 30 December, 2015 where President Muhammadu Buhari admitted that the refusal to obey the orders granting bail to the aforementioned bordered on “national security,” the gravity of the offences and the likelihood of their jumping bail, and the same position was, on 2 June, 2017, re-echoed by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture who added that the Judiciary does not have the full picture of the gravity of the offences.
He however observed that, “the above positions are contrary to the avowal of Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice who had claimed in November 2015 that:“there shall be no flouting of court orders by this new administration.”
The motion scaled through when the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara put it to voice vote.
and then