I am no expert at law but I find the current political situation in Nigeria very funny and interesting. It is obvious that a lot of different camps with various interests are at play here. One thing is certain in all this, and that is the interest of the ordinary Nigerian citizen is not of interest.
Between the President's kitchen cabinet and the pro-Yar'adua Ministers there has been a large display of sycophancy and insincerity. Over the period the President has been away, all sorts of lies have been told. So much that they have run of lies just as we have run out of interest in their fairy tales.
It is no surprise that almost every Nigerian now can recite parts of the constitution. We must commend them for helping to improve our understanding of the constitution.
Section 144 of the constitution reads as follows;
144. (1) The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office, if -
(a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the executive council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and
(b) the declaration is verified, after such medical examination as may be necessary, by a medical panel established under subsection (4) of this section in its report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(2) Where the medical panel certifies in the report that in its opinion the President or Vice-President is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation.
(3) The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office as from the date of publication of the notice of the medical report pursuant to subsection (2) of this section.
(4) the medical panel to which this section relates shall be appointed by the President of the Senate, and shall comprise five medical practitioners in Nigeria:-
(a) one of whom shall be the personal physician of the holder of the office concerned; and
(b) four other medical practitioners who have, in the opinion of the President of the Senate, attained a high degree of eminence in the field of medicine relative to the nature of the examination to be conducted in accordance with the foregoing provisions.
(5) In this section, the reference to "executive council of the Federation" is a reference to the body of Ministers of the Government of the Federation, howsoever called, established by the President and charged with such responsibilities for the functions of government as the President may direct.
The Federal Executive Council came out to pass a declaration that the President is capable of discharging the functions of his office. This is clearly not what the constitution is asking of the Ministers.
It is a different issue if they had come out to say the did not get a two-thirds majority to pass a declaration declaring him as incapable to to discharge his functions. There is no where in the constitution where it says the Ministers should declare the President fit.
Section 145 and 146 read
145. 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.
146. (1) The Vice-President shall hold the office of President if the office of President becomes vacant by reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or the removal of the President from office for any other reason in accordance with section 143 of this Constitution.
Now this is the part I find most interesting. Since the President did not inform the Senate of his whereabouts and he has been out of office for quite some time, it will be okay for us assume the President is AWOL.
Yes we all know he is in hospital, but remember that the Senate does not know this officially. I would deem this fit to be labeled as violation or breach of the provisions of the Constitution under which the President can be impeached.
As the Council of Ministers meet tomorrow, we await to hear what the outcome of the meeting will be following the drama that happened in last weeks meeting.
PDP being the ruling party has the majority in the National Assembly and we do not know for certain how they plan to go with the whole saga. This can only go on for so long. Something will eventually have to give way. They are only delaying what cannot be stopped.
