The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), has said that the Senate lacks legal authority to summon him.
The Senate had on Wednesday proposed to invite Sagay over a statement credited to him in the media that senators were irresponsible and childish.
But an undaunted Sagay told the Senators that he was not misquoted and therefore stood by his claim.
The law professor said the senators were ignorant of Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution.
He said, “I am waiting for the Senate summons. In any case, they don’t have the remotest of powers or authority to summon me because their power to summon people is very limited if you look at Section 88 and Section 89 of the constitution.
“I don’t fall under the category of people that they can summon. I am not operating any federal programme to which they have voted money. They are not investigating me based on anything for which they have voted money. So, there is nothing they can do about it.
“I expressed my personal view and if you feel very strongly about it, you can go to court and sue for defamation. That is the best anybody can do but to say I should come before the Senate committee based on an accusation by the same Senate committee which is going to act as a judge in the same case? It will charge me and judge me? It is unconstitutional and illegal.”
There has been calls by some prominent Nigerian and Rights groups to check what they see as the impunity of the Nigeria. They were referring to the ultimatum the upper house gave to president Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Chairman of the EFCC and the suspension of their colleague, Mr. Ali Ndume for calling for the probe of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Senator Dino Melaye over the allegations against them.
Not the mention the running battle the Saraki-led Senate has with the Comptroller-General of Customs and the SGF, Mr. Babachir Lawal.
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