REMOVAL FROM OFFICE THROUGH IMPEACHMENT; A LEGAL PROCESS OR A POLITICAL TOOL?

Abstract

Apart from a declaration of war, the most solemn and important responsibility that the legislature bears is to wield the power of removal of the elected executive officers wisely. It is therefore critical that the process of impeachment, through which a few and insignificant percentage of the society, sitting in a legislative house may undo a national decision, should both be fair and be perceived to be fair. Impeachment is a basic constitutional safeguard, designed both to correct harm to the system of government itself and to protect the people from serious malfeasance in the carrying out of public functions. A discussion of impeachment, like we did in this article, was undertaken by simulation of an application of the “golden rule” canon of interpretation. If the provision of the 1999 constitution is to be followed, there can be no discussion of the law and practice of impeachment in Nigeria because it is non-existent. We had to look beyond the mere provisions of the constitution and deduced that the draftsmen, swayed by English and American pedagogy, applied the word “impeachment” alongside and distinct from removal, death, resignation and permanent incapacity as modes of creating vacancy in those positions. We found that the removal of elected public officers on the ground of impeachment is a political weapon but should be applied through a strengthened legal process to provide a check on the legislators. Unfortunately, it was found that the Nigerian Constitution placed the ‘de facto’ power of removal in the hands of the heads of the judiciary and not the legislature. Consequently, several recommendations were made as remedies to these lacunae.