Date Published: 01/28/10

YARADUA VERSUS NIGERIA By Chris Ebhote 

“No other person can question the Vice President when he performs the functions of the president except the president himself” as per Justice Abutu 

“…with this the Vice President can sign any bill or any paper which the president can sign.” As per Aondoakaa 

No doubt the minister of justice is brilliant. He maximises his brilliance for political expediency. It is the maximisation for political expediency that is annoying to the people inclusive of opposition. There is no doubt that Abutu and Aondoakaa are right in their interpretation of s.145. This section is discretionary and could only be invoked at the pleasure of the president. The problem with our agitation therefore is the anchoring of protest on the non implementation of the constitution. Where we base our disagreement with Yaradua and his very able minister of justice on the non implementation of the constitution then we cannot go very far. Therefore upon correct interpretation the president would have done no wrong. Therefore the weapon at our disposal is to mount political pressure on the president to resign. I therefore salute the courage of Obasanjo to have so advised Yaradua. Dissipating energies on Obasanjo’s bashing misses the point. We are after a solution to artificially generated political crisis. Obasanjo’s act or omission is certainly not part of the solution. It is a further attempt to confuse issues. The solution is to bring pressure on obstinate Yaradua for failing to exercise his discretion otherwise. The failure to exercise his discretion otherwise is contemptuous of the people and contemptuous of his team mate namely the Vice President (hereinafter the VP) 

At this point let us proceed by means of a short dialogue with Mr Yaradua: 

Yaradua: I do not need to transmit any letter so long as the VP may sign documents on my behalf and so long as I the principal may approve of any instruments he may sign on my behalf 

The People: true he may sign on your behalf so long you as the principal have no objection. But there are short comings sir. He could only sign what you have approved and what you may approve but could not take or input his own decisions. It is imperative for him to be able to input his decisions whilst you are in a state of coma. Secondly he must be able to exercise his free will without the fear of limitation of first seeking your approval. This is important because you may not be available to give your approval whilst in a state of coma. The transmission of the said letter will eliminate the need for him to take decisions that are contingent upon your prospective approval. Where you remain insensitive to this inherent limitation of the VP’s decision making capacity it would certainly cast you in a bad light as one who places himself above the people. 

Yaradua: not at all 

The People: the situation on hand does not support your “not at all”. The point is: we wish to know why you have decided to postpone the collective interests of Nigeria to those of yours. 

Yaradua: I continue to work for the interests of Nigeria 

The people: may we remind you sir that you swore to defend the interest of Nigeria at all times and to rise above politics in the discharge of your duties. 

Yaradua: I have not postponed the interest of Nigeria because the VP is able to carry on. 

The People: sir you simply don’t get it. The VP’s inherent capacity precludes sound judgement that is a condition precedent to good governance 

Yaradua: I have based my actions on the legal advice of my Justice Minister 

People:  Your minister though a very brilliant lawyer is a politician whose modus operandi is the maximisation of political expediency. He said that we do not have a right to your medical records/or condition. But this is fallacious. First you are a public citizen and not a private citizen. Second where your very able minister is right then you cannot expend public funds for private purpose. Where you insist your minister is right then you must stop forthwith to utilise tax payers’ funds for your private medical care.  

Thirdly without the records being made public the FEC will be disabled in their exercise of the duties conferred on them by s.144. Their inaction has enabled you to get away with your failure to exercise otherwise the discretion conferred by s.145. Where the FEC may reach a decision one way or the other without the benefit of your medical records being made public would amount to a breach of their oath of office – a breach of which you must take the ultimate responsibility as their principal. 

Your very able minister is also wrong to assume that you could take AWOL for as long as you wish (who then pays you?). You could not simply issue cheques to cover your unofficial assignments or stay away from duty indefinitely at tax payers’ expense. You could not simply be missing in action and continue to take pay. You have not helped matters by not availing the opportunity offered by s.145. This section was designed by the drafters of the constitution to cover the situation in which you are in. This s.145 enables you to proceed on indefinite leave without leaving your duties uncovered. And therefore without being in breach of your oath of office. It enables you to proceed on indefinite leave with pay first because someone else is performing your duty and secondly you have informed the National Assembly which is as good as obtaining the peoples’ consent. Where you do not have the peoples’ consent to proceed on indefinite leave as you have done upon the facts a continued drawing of pay and utilisation of public funds for your bills would be illegal. 

There is yet another beauty of s.145 which your very able minister failed to address in his advice that is it enables you to retain your office as president while you relocate to a place of your interest in the world because you do not particularly like it in Abuja. Who wouldn’t avail himself of that opportunity if only to run away from the gross inefficiencies of our public institutions? It is only right to relocate to Saudi Arabia where the hospitals are functioning yet they sold the same oil that we sold. The proceeds of our sale have been siphoned back to Europe whereas those of Saudi have been utilised to build and maintain infrastructures good enough for you to take refuge for the past two months. 

Mr Justice Abutu’s recourse to s.5 and its acceptance by your minister while correct could only afford you temporary absence. Only s.145 enables you to remain the president of Nigeria as absentee landlord on the expense of public funds. The failure to exercise otherwise the provisions of s.145 is a boomerang in that unless you vacate  the office by writing to the National assembly which then enables the VP to exercise your duties as the principal you could not be absent from office at will without the repercussions of leave without permission. Put simply your office is now vacant!  
 
 

The writer is a London based lawyer at Carter Devile Solicitors