•••SAYS ITS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
First Republic Minister of Information and the leader of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Pa-Edwin Clark, on Tuesday attacked President Mohammadu Buhari for not transmitting power to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo before leaving for London, United Kingdom for medical treatment
The front line nationalist described the President’s action as illegal and unconstitutional.
President Buhari left Nigeria for London for his routine medical check-up on Monday afternoon.
It would be remembered that President Buhari had in 2019 explained that he decided not to hand over power to Vice President Osinbajo when he travelled to the United Kingdom on a private visit from April 25 to May 5, 2019 because there was no constitutional requirement for him to do so.
Buhari further stated that the only time he needed to hand over to Osinbajo was when he is proceeding on leave or going to be out of the country for more than 21 days.
Buhari’s explanation was contained in a six-paragraph counter-affidavit deposed to on his behalf by one Mr. Friday Atu, a litigation officer in the Civil Litigation Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
The response followed a Lagos-based lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who had sued Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation over the President’s failure to hand over power to Osinbajo in April that year.
But while addressing a press conference in Abuja, Clark asked what the President was afraid of in handing over to his Vice, who proved his competence while he acted as President in 2017, when he was out of the country for over 100 days.
The PANDEF leader accused the President of taking Nigerians for granted and ignoring Section 145 of the constitution which mandates him to handover to this Vice when he is traveling.
According to Clark, the President imported foreign body into the nation’s constitution adding that the Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution states, “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.
“The Constitution Section 145 is very clear, simple. There is no issue of 21 days and the president cannot import into the constitution what is not there. What Section 145 says, is that president shall transmits to the National Assembly, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, whenever he will be away on medical vacation.
“And in his absence, the constitution empowers the Vice President to act as the president. And the word ‘shall’ is used there. Where does Mr. President get that one from? That one does not exist, except that’s another constitution. I am a lawyer.” He said
