Legal and Political implications of Buhari’s Continued ‘Vacation’ Abroad

On the political implications of President Muhammadu Buhari extending his medical/holiday period abroad, it keeps the nation on ethnoreligious tenterhooks, dangerous precipice, uncomfortable tension,  anxiety and a dark pall on government and governance.

It reminds one of the dark better forgotten days of the Yar’Adua brouhaha when what late Dora  Akunyilu described certain elements as “the cabal” because they unceremoniously seized the reins of government and held the nation to unspeakable ransom. God forbid a repetition of history. God forbid us behaving like the Bourbons of European history who learnt nothing and forgot nothing.

On the legal implications, it is constitutionally provided that once the president transmits his absence or inability to act to the National Assembly, then the Vice president Acts in his place. This means that the VP takes full control of governance and government apparatus, thus leaving no vacuum in governance. He does it till the president returns.

For crying out loud, let PMB address the nation physically on Skype. Let us see him. He is the President of Nigeria, father of the nation. He belongs to the government and held the nation to unspeakable ransom. God forbid a repetition of history. God forbid us behaving like the Bourbons of European history who learnt nothing and forgot nothing.

On the legal implications, it is constitutionally provided that once the president transmits his absence or inability  to act to the National Assembly, then the Vice President acts in his place. This means Nigeria. He lost his anonymity and individuality the day he was voted into office as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The only privacy he has is in his wife’s  kitchen, his parlor and the other room.

Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN.

Constitutional Lawyer and Human Rights Activist.