Four senior lawyers on Thursday said Vice-President Osinbajo could not elect to waive his immunity because it was not about him but about the office of the vice-president, which he occupies.
A Lagos-based lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, says vice-president Yemi Osinbajo lacks the constitutional power to waive his immunity.
Effiong said this in a statement while reacting to Osinbajo’s vow to waive his constitutional immunity to pave the way for the “most robust adjudication” over an allegation that he took ₦90bn from the Federal Inland Revenue Service to fund the 2019 general elections.
The lawyer said the Supreme Court had ruled in the matter of Bola Tinubu vs I.M.B Securities Plc that a person holding any of the executive offices that has immunity cannot waive it.
He said, “Based on the extant constitutional regime, the vice-president Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, cannot waive his immunity. The Supreme Court decided in 2001 in the case of Tinubu v. I. M. B. Securities Plc that the constitutional immunity under section 308 of the constitution cannot be waived by the persons to whom the provision is meant to protect.
“In the said Tinubu’s case, former Governor Bola Tinubu decided to waive his immunity to defend a civil claim initiated against him. The Supreme Court barred the then governor of Lagos State from proceeding with the suit.”
The lawyer noted that immunity does not cover one from investigation, adding that there was no need for one to waive immunity in order to be probed by a law enforcement agency.
Effiong noted, “I wish to state that the immunity under Section 308 of the Constitution does not extend to criminal investigation by law enforcement agencies. This was the position taken by the Supreme Court in 2002 in the celebrated case of Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Inspector General of Police.