Hembe: Anger as Dogara refuses to obey Supreme Court order

Thirty-two days after the Supreme Court sacked Hon Iorwase Herman Hembe, the member of House of Representatives representing Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency, Benue State and ordered his replacement with Hon. Mrs Dorathy Mato, the Speaker of the House, Hon.Yakubu Dogara has refused to comply with the order.

The development has also led to anger, condemnation as the stakeholders are wondering if the speaker and the leadership of the House are claiming ignorance of the apex court order or simply playing politics with the verdict of the highest court in the land.

The Daily Times further gathered yesterday that Dogara has rebuffed all entreaties by close associates of Hon Mato to administer the oath of office on her, despite the fact that the Senate had on July 5 ,2017 sworn in Senator Shuaibu Isa Lau, Taraba North, who obtained similar order same day from Supreme Court with Hon. Mato. A credible source at the House who is abreast with the issue also confided in the Daily Times sthat the new Senator Lau and Hon. Mato were desperately trying to have audience with Dogara on the issue yesterday.

But a cross-section of Nigerians who spoke on the issue yesterday condemned the Speaker for flouting the Supreme Court order.

They were unanimous in their reasonings that it is unfortunate that Dogara, who is also a lawyer by profession could flout the Supreme Court’s order over a month after it was served on the House he presides over.

The Daily Times recalls that the Supreme Court had on June 23, 2017 sacked Hembe as member of the lower chamber representing Vandeikya / Konshisha Federal Constituency, Benue State.

The apex court also ordered Hembe to vacate the seat immediately and refund all salaries and entitlements he collected from 2015 to date to the National Assembly within 90 days. Similar orders were also made by the apex court in respect of Senator Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi, Taraba North Senatorial District who had since vacated his seat.

The apex court specifically ordered Dogara to swear in Mrs Dorathy Mato as the member House of Representatives representing Vandeikya / Konshisha Federal Constituency at the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

The order was contained in the lead judgment delivered by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen on the appeal filed by Mrs Mato where in she challenged the decision of the Court of Appeal on the matter.

The Apex court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Hembe and further ordered INEC to issue the Certificate of return to Mrs Mato in the 1st respondent’s brief, which had been formulated from the said incompetent grounds.

“By so doing, this Honourable Court struck out the grounds of appeal that had questioned the decision of the Court of Appeal not to hear the matter on the merits as well as the two issues that it resolved in favour of the appellant may have given this Honourable Court the jurisdiction to consider the case on its merits under section 22 of the Supreme Court Act.”

He also said that , “in spite of the above, this Honourable Court, in error arising from an accidental slip, proceeded as if the said grounds had not been struck out and determined the matter on the merits and made far reaching consequential orders against the applicant (Hembe) in favour of the appellant/ respondent(Mato), when the court had no jurisdiction.

“In error arising from an accidental slip, this Honourable Court granted claim IV in the appellant/ respondent’s originating summons, (which was that the primaries conducted by the 2nd respondent on 7th-10th December 2014 were null and void) and further held that the appellant/respondent was the winner of the voided primaries, when the court had no jurisdiction to do so.

“Also in error arising from an accidental slip, the Court further held that the appellant/respondent was the candidate of the 2nd respondent (APC) at the general election, when the court had no jurisdiction to do so.

“In error arising from an accidental slip, this Honourable Court ordered the applicant (Hembe) to refund all salaries, allowances, and emoluments the applicant had collected from the House of Representatives, when the court had no jurisdiction to do so.

“This Honourable Court possess the power ex debitio justitiae to set aside the consequential orders made in this matter and substitute therefore an order that meets the justice of the case, which is that the matter be heard on the merits by the trial court”

Meanwhile, Hembe in an affidavit in support of the motion on notice, claimed that he has vacated the National Assembly and paid the N700,000 cost awarded against him but unable to refund the salaries he collected as a member. Hembe said,

“I have however been unable to refund the salaries I received from the House of Representatives. The salaries were received monthly and were used for the upkeep of my family and the high cost of living made it impossible for me to have any savings.

“I have tried very hard to raise a loan to enable me comply with the above order of this Honourable Court, but have not yet succeeded. I will comply with the order of this Honourable Court as soon as I am able to raise the money.

“I need to add that the aside monthly salaries, I received no allowances or other emoluments as a member of the House of Representatives.”

But senior lawyers and other stakeholders in the nation’s justice system have said that any legislator removed by a court judgment but has continued to remain in the Senate or House of Representatives is an illegal act that amounts to disobedience of court orders.

The lawyers spoke yesterday while reacting to the refusal of Dogara to swear in Mrs. Dorothy Mato as member representing Vandikwa/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue State. Speaking on the development, a legal practitioner, Mr Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN), condemned the development, saying that it is illegal and unconstitutional for the National Assembly to disobey the court orders. He said Hembe’s ouster by Supreme Court is final as there’s no further appeal to anywhere else except perhaps to Almighty God and the court of public opinion.

He said, “Once INEC cancels both their certificate of return and reissues same to both their opponents, that’s the end of the matter and the both heads of NASS are duty bound to swear them in respectively into the Red and Green chambers”.

On his part, another lawyer, Mr Sam OlogunOrisa, SAN, said it will be too hasty to condemned the National Assembly. According to him, the legal team representing Mrs. Mato knows what to do, adding that it is too early in the day to speculate.

He said, “I don’t want to speculate because it is not enough to just go to National Assembly. Has the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC issued a certificate of return? If INEC has issued a certificate of return, has Mato submitted her own certificate of return to the appropriate officer at the National Assembly? “ It is not enough to say the Supreme Court has given an order but NASS has not obey because National Assembly will not operate on the basis of what is sustainable on the pages of newspaper.

“The lawyer or the legal team should be able to come out clean and say this is what we have done or this is what the law requires us to do, until that is done, that is when we can speak unequivocally that these people has breached the order of the court and once that is done, they will issue form 49 and I can assure you that the lower court which is the High Court will enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court”.

Also, an Abuja based Lawyer and Human Rights Activist Chief Nkereuwem Akpan said the National Assembly should be careful to ensure that their duties does not collude with other arms of government.

He said, “The principal officers of both houses of the National Assembly owe themselves a duty of ensuring that they do not collude with sitting members of Parliament so to subvert the cause of justice otherwise they would be personally liable for such gross violation of their oath of office and of allegiance to the 1999 constitution” .

Meanwhile, lawyer to Mrs Mato, Mr. Chidi Nwankwo, has said that Dogara does not want to swear in Mato for no just reason. He said, Dogara has been pushing her up and down since the verdict of the Apex court even after they did all the necessary documentation.

He said, “They have been pushing us up and down, and we have done all the necessary documentation, we have done everything we are supposed to do but it appears that the speaker does not want to swear her in for no just reason.

“We don’t want to start taking a legal action for now. We have been speaking to them to obey the judgement of the Supreme Court so that when the woman eventually enters there, they will not see her as been confrontational but it appears now that that the next line of action will be to file contempt charge against the leadership of the House.

“We believe that we have given them enough time and the next step to take is to resort to the due form of law and that is to commence contempt proceedings against the leadership of the House of Representatives”.