IS NIGERIA NOW A FAILED STATE?
MISSING PRESIDENT
145 of 1999 Constitution:
"Whenever the President transmits
to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives
a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise
unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a
written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the
Vice-President as Acting President."
When traveling in January, Gen
Muhammadu Buhari PERSONALLY transmitted a letter to the National Assembly,
notifying them of a SPECIFIC TEN DAYS VACATION, which ended on February 6,
2017. This letter was duly read and became part and parcel of the Votes and
Proceedings of the National Assembly.
The president did not return on
February 6 as he promised but he has purportedly taken an extended vacation, on
ground of ill health, through a letter they was said to have been transmitted
to the National Assembly. That "letter" has not been seen by anyone,
in order to determine its authenticity and its real author.
The "letter" has not been
READ ON THE FLOORS of either Chambers of the National Assembly, to make it part
of its Votes and Proceedings. In effect, the legal capacity of Professor Yemi
Osinbajo, SAN, ends midnight February 6, 2017.
Somehow, as if acting out a clever
script, the Senate had hurriedly adjourned it sitting to February 24, ever
before the "letter" for an extended vacation arrived. So legally, the
"letter" is cooling somewhere in the National Assembly, just another
letter, without any force of law. A letter transmitted to the National Assembly
MUST BE READ at the plenary session to become binding.
So, by February 7, 2017, there will
be no President or Acting President.
Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, is from the
Southern part of Nigeria.
Ebun-olu Adegboruwa
Lekki, Lagos.
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Politics