Elder statesman and the leader of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has once again condemned President Buhari for not handing over power to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, and allow him to act on his behalf as stated in the constitution, as he travelled to the United Kingdom for medical check-up.
The elder statesman, who spoke yesterday at a press briefing, faulted President Buhari’s style of leaving the country without handing over to his deputy on the ground that he may not exceed 21 days is an act of illegality.
Clark stated that there was no place in the Constitution where 21 days was mentioned and consequently, President Buhari should not import his own idea into the Constitution.
“The constitution of the nation is the grundnorm and every aspect of it must be obeyed. Thus, section 145 is mandatory and not discretionary. The transmission of a letter to the National Assembly ought to be automatic. And the president of the country does not have a choice to tinker with it, or whether to comply or not.
“A president’s inability to perform his functions, even for a few hours, mandates such action of transmitting a letter to the National Assembly. This is what is done by any responsible government. Therefore, it should not be treated as breaking news.
“Taking the whole nation by surprise, especially, since it was not an emergency, President Muhammadu Buhari must have long secured this appointment with his physicians for the checkup.
“Secondly, the president of Nigeria is constitutionally bound to inform Nigerians of whatever ailment or disease he is suffering from, especially one from which the government money is being spent. Nigerians will understand he is a human and that is why the framers of the constitution provided section 145. Unfortunately, up till now, Nigerians do not know how much of taxpayers’ money is being spent on their president.”
He said: “What Section 145 says is that President shall transmit 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,” Clark stated.
He warns of the dire consequence of the president not acting in accordance with the stated constitution.