The House of Representatives has said it will not pass a “hasty guilty judgment” on the embattled Interior Minister, Mr. Abba Moro, over the death of 18 Nigerians during the recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The House explained that in spite of the fact that the minister had accepted responsibility for the tragedy, it would not call for sanctions against Moro without first hearing his side of the incident.
Speaking on the issue, the Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, told SUNDAY PUNCH the tragedy was already that being investigated by the House.
He argued that the House would not pass a guilty judgment on Moro mid-way into the investigation when the committee, saddled with the responsibility, had not concluded its assignment.
Ogor added that in a democracy, the principle of fair hearing must apply in all situations, “no matter how we feel about them or think that certain actions should have been taken against a perceived offender.”
Citing Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the deputy leader noted that “every accused person remains innocent until proven guilty. This can come after the person has been given fair hearing.”
Ogor stated that those accusing the National Assembly of not taking the matter seriously were not fair to the legislature.
He stated that the House passed a resolution immediately after the incident, asking the Federal Government to grant automatic employment to family members of the victims in addition to paying compensation to the injured.
The lawmaker told Sunday PUNCH that in response to the resolution, President Goodluck Jonathan had granted automatic employment to three members of each family that lost a life during the tragedy.
He said, “I am surprised when people start talking of punitive measures. What punitive measures do you recommend in an ongoing investigation?
“Are we to place the cart before the horse? You called for an investigation, then mid-way you want to pass a hasty guilty judgment and hang the minister?
“The minister is entitled to fair hearing. Even if he did the killing personally, under Section 36 of the constitution, you must still hear him before you hang him.
“For us as a House, we wait for the outcome of the report of our committee, to determine what next is to be done.”
He also argued that Nigerians should not reduce the tragedy to a particular person, adding that it could have been any other minister, ministry or agency.
“We are facing a general problem of unemployment in our country. That is what we should be tackling.
“Those thousands of youths went out to queue and some of them were killed because they had no job.
“It means that if another government agency advertises for employment today, even more numbers will go there because there are no jobs”, he added.
Ogor said he expected the report of the House committee to go beyond the immigration tragedy by recommending how to avoid such incidents in the future.
“We urgently have to do something about the unemployment situation in the country; that is more important than calling for the head of a particular minister,” the deputy leader added.
Sunday PUNCH learnt that though the House passed the resolution on March 17, as of Friday, the committee had yet to commence public hearing.
The investigation is being conducted by the Joint Committee on Labour, Employment, Productivity/Justice/Public Service Matters.
Meanwhile, a senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has said the findings of the Senate Committee on Interior would shock Nigerians when it is released. He refused to give more details.
Copyright PUNCH.
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