Lawmakers risk prison over refusal to swear-in Agboola – Belgore

Barrister Usman Kola Belgore is a 2014 graduate of law from Bayero University, Kano. He thereafter attended the Nigerian law school, Abuja campus after which he was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2015.He started practice with M.O.Agboola & Co.(Grace Chambers) in Osun State before he relocated to Ilorin to join Tafa Ahmed & Co. towards the end of 2016. Presently in his sixth year of practice, Belgore joined J.S.Bamigboye (SAN) in January 2017 but later partnered Yusuf Sulayman in June, 2019 to establish Sulayman, Belgore & Co. situated in Ilorin. In this interview with JIMOH SULYMAN, the Ilorin based legal practitioner examines the implication of the refusal of the Kwara State House of Assembly to swear-in Hon Jimoh Agboola despite various court injunctions in his favour among other issues. Excerpts:
How do you react to the refusal yet of the Kwara State House of Assembly to swear-in the lone PDP candidate, Hon Jimoh Agboola despite several court judgments in his favour?
First of all, we need to be reminded of the main function of House of Assembly which is to enact or make laws, it’s these laws enacted that courts interprets. So one will expect that the law or laws made by the legislature and interpreted by the court is to be respected, obeyed and followed by everyone; be it common man, government agency or institutions, by the three arms of Government. It is pitiable that the legislature in this circumstance failed to follow their own law because it affects directly one of their members.
What is your view about the decision of the House to approach the Supreme Court when litigation of this nature is supposed to terminate at the Appeal court?
A committal proceeding can be instituted against the Kwara State House of Assembly for disobedience of court order. Nobody is above the law, I believe it is a fruitless exercise because the position of law is clear and sacrosanct that Court of Appeal is the final court in a state legislative election appeal. But the issue there is that lawyers usually try some other means which we believe we can find a loophole to get what our clients wants and that’s the essence of the of present appeal at the Apex Court. But we shouldn’t forget that Court of Appeal, Ilorin division had awarded cost against the aggrieved party for filing a frivolous appeal and frivolous application before the Federal High Court challenging it’s decision, when ordinarily the Kwara State House of Assembly ought to have sworn in PDP candidate. However we should be patient and see how it plays out at the Supreme Court. It should be noted that the present appeal at the apex court isn’t appeal on election. The appeal on decision of election petition tribunal had been finalised at the Court of Appeal last year. The present appeal at the Supreme Court emanated from an application filed at the Federal High Court challenging the said decision of the court of appeal in its decision on election appeal.
Do you think there is any justification for the action of the lawmakers to continue to deny Agboola his mandate even if they say the case is still in court?
There is no justification whatsoever, that’s the reason I said committal proceedings may be instituted against them. The Speaker may be committed to prison for failure to obey court order, it is as simple as that, nobody is above the law, no exceptions. Court order is not made for fun or to be ridicule by the party concern. It must be obeyed; a party in disobedience cannot get a favour from court. Rather such a party will be punished and committed to prison. Once a court order is served on a party, what next is for such party to abide by the order and nothing more, it’s not like playing hide and seek and the position of law is settled and sacrosanct on that. Once a judgement is delivered or an order is made by a court of law and that order is served on the party concern, such an order “MUST” be followed especially when the party is aware of it
Any cause for concern over the action of the lawmakers to the culture of democracy and rule of law in the long run?
Of course, there is, being the lawmakers they should not be seen flaunting or disobeying the order, what message will that pass to the general public? It’s not commendable; the spirit of rule of law is nothing but supremacy of law over “everybody”. The Assembly is a creation of law and all its affairs are guided by law. As such, it must follow the law as laid down by either itself or by the National Assembly. The constitution of Nigeria is the supreme law of the land, the grand norm from which others derived their power. It is this same law that created the Kwara State House of Assembly. The same constitution established the principle of supremacy of the constitution over every Nigerian regardless of power or position held by anyone at every point in time. The action by the lawmakers is not good for our democracy.
Can we conclude that the House of Assembly is exploiting loopholes in our laws to perpetrate impunity and do you support the calls for constitution amendment to rectify the situation?
When I said loophole, I didn’t mean loophole in the constitution with regards to the case at hand. There is no loophole in the constitution on the issue of failure to swear in an elected member, especially when there’s an order of court in that regard.
What is your take in the ongoing calls for constitutional amendment; do you think it is necessary?
Of course, there are numerous loopholes in the constitution, it is a man-made law and it is a common saying that there is no perfection in human actions. Even Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain during the World War 2 said democracy is not the best, only that we have nothing to replace it. Our constitution is built on the principle or doctrine of democracy, there have been about four amendments to the constitution of this country and I think 5th alternation is in motion. Being a man-made law, there’ll always be room for amendment, because same is happening to those that brought democracy to this country. Yes, there are loopholes in the constitution that require amendment.