Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Assets Forfeiture: Why We are Stripping President of His Powers – Dogara

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday, defended the move by the legislature to strip the President of his power to order forfeiture of asset held by persons facing criminal prosecution.

He said it would deepen democracy and give all arms of government the chance to perform their duties without undue interference.

The National Assembly is proposing to strip the President of his power on asset forteiture and vests it in the judge of the High Court, who will now use his discretion to decide on whether to order the forfeiture.

Dogara spoke at the opening of a public hearing on the bill, which sought to amend the “Currency Conversion (Freezing Orders) Act, 2004” at the National Assembly in Abuja.

The hearing was conducted by the House Committee on Banking/Currency chaired by Mr Chukwudi Jones-Onyereri.

The Speaker explained, “The discretionary powers being sought for the judge of the high court; it is essential in order to ensure that the course of justice is protected in the Nigerian socio-economic space.

“Currently, the powers for forfeiture are vested in the President, which invariably usurps the prerogative of the judiciary to adjudicate and give ruling among others.

“For democracy to be truly deepened, all the three arms of government need to be deepened to effectively perform their constitutional responsibilities.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria and several operators in the financial sector supported the bill, urging the National Assembly to pass it speedily.

CBN’s Deputy Director, Mr Adedeji Lawal, who represented the apex bank, also suggested that the bill should be further amended to allow the court forward any forfeiture orders to the CBN governor in writing for implementation.

But, lawmakers observed that asking the judge to communicate the order in writing to the governor was not necessary as it could amount to meddling in court proceedings.

 

 

__________

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2018 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara says he does not belong to a political party for now but he only supports...

News

he spokesperson for the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Festus Keyamo and former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu...

News

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has slammed the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, over his criticism following the former’s...

News

Former Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), over an alleged assassination plot, Daily Trust reports. In...

Copyright ©