Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), said on Sunday that the mace was not required for parliamentary proceedings in Nigeria to be valid.
Falana stated that by virtue of section 54 of the Constitution either of two houses of the National Assembly was competent to sit and conduct proceedings once the quorum of the members was formed.
Falana said, “While the police investigation into the embarrassing invasion of the Senate is in progress, it is pertinent to point out that the mace is not a prerequisite for parliamentary business in Nigeria.”
“In other words, the proceedings of a legislative house cannot be invalidated because of the absence of a mace,” Falana added.
Describing the mace as a colonial legacy which was part of the Nigerian parliament in 1960 when the Queen of England was Nigeria’s Head of State, Falana said “our legislators should stop attaching undue importance to the conventions of the British Parliament.”