Dino Melaye Loses Bid To Stop Passage Of Infectious Diseases Bill

Dino Melaye Loses Bid To Stop Passage Of Infectious Diseases Bill

A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by a former lawmaker representing Kogi West district, Senator Dino Melaye, seeking to stop deliberations on the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill currently before the House of Representatives.

Delivering judgment on the suit on Tuesday, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu dismissed the suit on the ground that the court cannot interfere in the legislative proceedings of an arm of government.

According to the court, the Infectious Disease bill remains a bill which does not confer any right and obligation on Senator Melaye or any other Nigerian as it is yet to become an act of the National Assembly.

Justice Ojukwu also struck out the name of the IGP as a party to the case on the grounds that the plaintiff failed to disclose any cause of action against him.

Justice Ojukwu, who upheld the preliminary objection filed against the suit by the respondents, stated that the issues raised in the suit was not justiciable, as a Bill could not be a subject of litigation until it becomes law.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) are respondents in the suit.

NAN recalls that Melaye, who represented Kogi South Senatorial District in the Eight Senate, had, on May 5, filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/463/2020, urging the court to delete sections 5, 8, 15, 16 and 17 of the bill which he said constituted a violation or would likely violate his rights under the Nigerian Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

The plaintiff had faulted provisions of the bill, also known as the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Bill, seeking to empower the Director-General of the NCDC to compel anyone to take medical examination or treatment and also collect the blood sample of such person in the case of a public health emergency.

He queried the provision to empower the NCDC to take over any premises and turn them into isolation centres without compensation.