According to Section 308 of our constitution, there is a restriction in legal proceedings on some political office holders; the President and Vice and the Governor and his Deputy. However, the word 'immunity' you wont see. This entails that these officials shall have 'no civil or criminal proceedings' instituted against them during their period of office. They cant be arrested or imprisoned nor can they be arraigned in a court of law, during their term of office.

The bone of contention against this provision by many Nigerians is that the corrupt practices associated with many of the state governors, especially, were committed under its protection. The argument sounds loud that if these high officials had no cover of immunity like every other citizen, they would have been more honest. By implication, this means that the possibility of prosecution and arraignment, where there is no immunity, would have deterred the governors from perpetrating the alleged acts associated with them.

However, does the fear of punishment eradicate crimes? A critical look at the proposition of Deterrence throws more light. According to Hannah Arendt, the distinguished German-born US philosopher and historian, 'no punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crime'. That has got to be true because even when a thief is been mobbed, people still lose their possesion to other thieves even in the process. Moreso, with the introduction of capital punishment and death penalty there would be no murder committed, no cases of kidnapping, no cases of drugs peddling and their likes yet we still have myriads of such cases. Thus, the removal of immunity clause definitely will not stop the bneficiary from ravaging the national tressury to the detriment of the electorate.

Rather, it will keep the President and Vice, Governor and Deputy perennially engaged in one lawsuit or the other throughout their terns of office, even on frivolous issues that may have personal and selfish undertones. Moreover, it will create a situation where political opponents of all stripes will have a field day in creating anarchy in government thereby denying the electorates democratic dividends . The distraction will be so massive that the fabric of wholesome and good governance will be torn into shreds. The provision for restriction against these high state officials should hence be seen as a protection of their office rather than a source of opportunity for their misdeeds.

Finally, its devilish and wicked for a political leader to commit heinous crimes of lootocracy under the guise of this restriction. In New Nigeria Vanguard we say NO to all forms and facades of bad governance.

#tomorrowsleaderstoday!

By implication, this means that the possibility of prosecution and arraignment, where there is no immunity, would have deterred the governors from perpetrating the alleged acts associated with them.

You mean Buhari will have been able to after PDP governors like Fayose and Wike?

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