Parliamentary system worked for Nigeria – Uwais

Is there any place for the law on restrictions especially in the ongoing war against the deadly Ebola virus?There is right to move freely within the country and the ECOWAS sub-region. So what they ought to do is may be the health workers should have a system on how they can check passengers. Even the […]

Is there any place for the law on restrictions especially in the ongoing war against the deadly Ebola virus?
There is right to move freely within the country and the ECOWAS sub-region. So what they ought to do is may be the health workers should have a system on how they can check passengers. Even the law says you cannot hold someone in detention for more than 48 hours, even if he/she is a criminal.
What is your take on attempts by some states to register non-indigenes within their areas which was stopped by the federal government?
It is totally wrong. Nigeria is one, and the constitution allows everybody to move freely and live anywhere they choose. Are we trying to divide the country? Are we going back to the era of Biafra? It is ridiculous and I think it is just some evil minds that are trying to divide Nigeria. It does not make sense and legally it is not acceptable.
But some people claim that lack of adequate data management in Nigeria has increased the rate of crime and insecurity in the country and mutual suspicions?
Good. How many times have the money for data capturing been stolen? Different regimes had projects on identity management which collapsed. If there is insecurity what the government should do is to find a way of tackling it rather than harassing individuals in the name of registration for non-indigenes? It is unacceptable. The issue of insecurity is affecting the entire country right now, so it doesn’t mean that if I am from Borno, I am a  Boko Haram member. I may be a legitimate businessman in Anambra, and if you restrict me, how do you then want to do business in Nigeria?
There have been impeachments of governors in some states and there are allegations that they are politically motivated. What is your view on this?
Section 188 of the Constitution clearly allows for impeachment of a governor if there are cogent reasons to do so. But definitely in Nigeria, you see that some of the impeachment proceedings are politically motivated. If you look at the states where there are impeachment proceedings, you can see that members of the state assembly are from a different political party from the governor. In Adamawa and Nasarawa it is this same situation. But that does not mean that they are innocent. Definitely many of the governors, if they are to face such proceedings I don’t know how they will escape.
Recently judicial workers embarked on strike to press for autonomy for the judiciary. What is your take?
The judiciary should definitely have autonomy because when you look at the three arms of government – executive, legislature and judiciary – all are supposed to have autonomy. The whole essence of the three arms of government is for checks and balances. If you don’t want to make the judiciary autonomous and strengthen the police, they remain under the executive which can hold them to ransom. If we want to practice democracy and rule of law, the three arms of government should be autonomous and we should make sure there is no involvement of politics in the judiciary.
Where do you stand on the call for separation of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice vis-a-vis the number of corruption cases that are being withdrawn from the courts?
Any way you put it, it depends on the attorney general running the system at a particular time. The two offices have been together for a long time and we have not had these issues. If the two offices are separated it could lead to duplication of duties. And do we need too many government offices in this country? We need to even reduce the number of ministries; some of them should even be reduced to departments within a ministry. We need to be serious in Nigeria that we don’t need so many offices. We have had very brilliant attorney generals of the federation such as Abdullahi Ibrahim in the past and we did not have these problems. So it depends on the person holding the office and what he wants to do with the powers he has.
Talking about reduction of cost of governance, some people are calling for part time legislature?
I am not in support of our system of government. For me, we need to go back to parliamentary system. There you are in touch with the people and you have a limited number of people you are representing. You save cost and it is more effective. What we are running is pipeline for wastages. The parliamentary system we had in the past was working. This system, if they must retain it, they should work on part time basis.
The National Conference has suggested part time legislature as part of its recommendations?
I don’t even recognise the National Conference and what the government hopes to do with their recommendations. It is duplication when we have a National Assembly. If it is a real constitutional conference backed by law, it would have been better.
Can the National Assembly then amend the law to accommodate the parliamentary system?
The National Assembly cannot amend the law to give us a parliamentary system because we are in Nigeria. How do you expect that I am benefitting from something then you want me to amend it? Look at the Electoral Act by Justice Uwais Committee. Clearly they had good recommendations. But when you start panel beating it you remove areas that do not favour you.
What are your thoughts on the security situation in Nigeria?
The security issue is a very serious matter. You can imagine the plight of these Chibok girls that have been taken away from their parents. I also read that the wife of Cameroun’s deputy prime minister was abducted but within 48 hours they rescued her. And I know that Nigeria has better military resources than Cameroun, so that worries me.
But Cameroun was reported to have lost some soldiers in the operation. The Nigerian government has said it knows exactly where the girls are but does not want to incur casualties while rescuing them?
It is a war. When the Boko Haram is bombing everybody and the parents of these girls are dying of heart attack, are these not already casualties? And the children we don’t know what they have done to them. Nobody is safe in Nigeria. If you think you are safe in the South West or South East, you have your relatives in the North. It could happen to anybody. So it is better to have small casualties now than keep accumulating more casualties.