Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, declared yesterday that some persons are “intimidating” the Judiciary to “gag” the National Assembly.
Dogara, who said this at plenary yesterday, did not mention names.
He spoke on a motion raised by Razak Atunwa, from Kwara State, on a recent court judgement restraining the House from holding public hearing on the Hijab controversy.
There has been a dispute between the Nigerian Law School and Amasa Firdaus, a law graduate, who was not called to Bar, on the grounds that she wore a Hijab to the Call to the Bar ceremony.
The matter was taken to the house of representatives and a public hearing was fixed for it.
A coalition of lawyers, however, filed a suit asking the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the House from conducting the hearing- a prayer the court granted.
At yesterday’s plenary, the lawmakers accused the judiciary of “crossing the line” regarding its constitutional role.
Dogara, on his part, said the court judgement infringes on the powers of the House and will not be tolerated.
“We know that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic and operates on basic principles such as rule of law and separation of powers, which states that none of the arms of government should gag the other.
“Just as we cannot gag the judiciary, we also expect same from them. We make laws and the constitution only empowers them to interpret the laws.
“But, for us to sit here and the judiciary tells us what we should consider and not consider and when to sit, then, we are no longer practising democracy.”
He said with the way the judiciary is going, “nothing stops them (the judges) from coming tomorrow and saying the National Assembly cannot sit.
“I don’t think it is us that is intimidating the judiciary, as it is being alleged. It is some people that are intimidating them from somewhere else, to gag the National Assembly.
“We have respected the judiciary a lot and we expect same from them. When the judiciary gets to the level they are now, that spells danger for our democracy. If they insist they must continue this way, we have to part ways.”
Thereafter, Dogara set up an ad-hoc committee to interface with the judiciary and look into the matter.
Last December, the Body of Benchers denied Firdaus her call to the bar for refusing to take off her headscarf.
On December 12, 2017, Amasa was not permitted by the Body of Benchers to enter the International Conference Centre, Abuja venue of the ceremony because she flouted the dress code and insisted on wearing her lawyer’s wig on top of her hijab.
The hijab is a headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion.
Amasa called the refusal of the Nigerian Law School to call her to the bar a violation of her right to freedom of religion as protected by Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution.
The call to bar is the official moment where an individual is sworn into a law society or court and obtains the licence to practise law in that jurisdiction.
President of the Nigerian Bar Association A.B. Mahmoud vowed that the association would look into the situation.