Acting President or Coordinator ‎ of Govt's Activities

‎Did President Muhammadu Buhari intend to retain power to run the affairs of the country while on his sick bed in London, or are the power hawks in Aso Rock to blame for the deliberate choice of words in the president’s letter to the National Assembly? Whichever way one looks at it, something sinister may be in the offing, writes Shola Oyeyipo

The Nigerian political system‎ is quite intriguing. It is equally difficult to understand why those in the corridor of power take certain actions. Sometimes, the political elites act with absolute impunity. They sometimes take Nigerians for granted.

The latest in the many ‘government magic’ as late Nigerian Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti put it in one of his very critical songs is that rather than name Vice President Yemi Osinbajo acting president as he did during the three previous medical vacations, for reasons best known to him, President Muhammadu Buhari curiously announced Osinbajo as ‘Coordinator of Government’s activities’ while he went abroad for medical treatment.

The new nomenclature for the vice president was contained in the letter the president sent to the Senate to intimate the lawmakers of his fourth medical leave. This time around, many fear that the Nigerian leader may be staying much longer than he did in the past as the president had said that his stay in the United Kingdom where he headed Sunday night after receiving the 82 rescued Chibok girls after three years in Boko Haram captivity, would be determined by his doctors.

The uproar that ensued in the Senate over the coinage of the titles, which was quelled by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the immediate reactions in the social media and the general public opinion as reflective in several public discussions and newsroom debates pointed to the fact that Nigerians smell foul play.

Though, Saraki cleverly avoided the controversies that would have ensued had he allowed some of his colleagues who expressed discomfort over the title contained in the letter to have their way, the presidency has more job on its hand to convince Nigerians on what the ailing president meant by naming Osinbajo coordinator instead of simply calling him acting president as he did before, something for which he got accolades from Nigerians.

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator, representing Abia North, Mao Ohabunwa, was quick to note that it was not proper to name the vice president “coordinator” of the nation’s affairs. He questioned Saraki on the issue, arguing that Osinbajo should have been designated acting president but he was ruled out of order after the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, noted that Buhari, cited Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution in his letter.

According to section 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.”

Senior lawyers, Olisa Agbakoba and Wole Olanipekun however said there was no cause for alarm. Both lawyers said Osinbajo remained the Acting President regardless of what the president wrote in his letter to the Senate.

Olanipekun said that there was no question about it, Osinbajo is acting president.

He stated that as long as the president transferred the letter in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, Osinbajo has become the Acting President. “Whether the president called him acting president or not, the fact that he called him coordinator of activities of governent is immaterial, it is inferred that all powers vested in the president have been transferred to him.”

Olanipekun however expressed a reservation saying that the country has yet to evolve.

Agbakoba also agreed and advised Nigerians to focus on what is important and ignore trivialities.

He said: “I think it is a matter of nomenclature. We should avoid unnecessary distractions. ‎Am aware what the politicians were trying to do with the interpretation but that is not the issue Nigerians are interested in for now.

“It is just semantics. It makes no difference. Let us not concentrate on ‎trivial issues. The man is acting president. We wish the president well and also pray for Osinbajo to address the challenges of poverty, bad roads and joblessness in the country.”

Good as that may be, tongues are wagging. There is suspicion everywhere and the questions is, why not leave Osinbajo as acting president? What does the new title mean? And who was uncomfortable with the vice president as acting president? Is it the president himself, the cabal as identified by the president’s wife when she spoke against some powerful forces she alleged were controlling the president? Or could it be the lawmakers?

To assume that Nigerians are seeing through the lenses of those in power to understand why government took the decision to name Osinbajo ‘coordinator’ is perfidy and to have assumed that Nigerians will not be asking questions is also a big error because the vice president, in all the instances he stood in for Buhari, didi very well and got encomiums for some actions he took.

When the news got to the public that the new official tittle the vice president would have is coordinator of nation’s affairs as against acting president, the immediate reaction of a former deputy national chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, was that it was the stock in trade of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but one of his political associates and a governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Mr. Uthman Shodipe was more expressive. To him, “They only want to turn the vice president to an errand boy; go and drop this file here, go and drop that file there.”

As expected, reactions will continue to trail the issue even long after the president returns but in one of the most spontaneous reactions, a non-governmental organisation, Advocacy for Integrity and Economic Development (AIED), described the designation of Osinbajo as ‘coordinator of national affairs’ as a “desecration of the office of the president and a complete aberration.”

The AIED Director of Research and Publicity, Mr. O’Seun John, accused the ‘cabal’ within the presidency of plotting to create confusion in the country by its continuous interference with the decision of the president.

“We are extremely saddened with the content of President Buhari’s letter where he neglected tradition and voice of sanity to dance to the tune of political vampires by importing a lexicon alien to our constitution. While we are aware of the unambiguous provision of section 145, we are frightened by signals such as this on the peace and unity of our country.

“The new designation of Osinbajo can only be interpreted to mean that Buhari does not trust him enough to act as the president in his absence. With this reality, we are now forced to ask: who does President Buhari truly recognise as the acting president?

“This act has put paid to any form of doubt that the powers controlling the affairs of the country have greater influence and perhaps, control than the vice-president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo”, AIED stated.

However, fact is, as an erudite professor of law himself, Osinbajo is not one person to be cowed or pushed around on any constitutional matter. Irrespective of whatever designation, Nigerians can be sure that he would rather stand in for the president in acting capacity as stipulated by Section 145 and nothing else. The only alternative for those who may be plotting the ‘coordinator’ agenda is to remove him as vice president.

In fact, checking through his tweeter handle, an important observation is that he had only retweeted those tweets that referred to him as acting president as at May 9, 2017. This can only reinforce in the minds of those who know Osinbajo pretty well that those working to redefine the Nigerian constitution in this circumstance are only joking.

So, aside the fact that people are already noting that by complying with the provisions of Section 145, Buhari left Osinbajo as acting president, since there is nobody else named vice president and also since there cannot be a vacuum, the vice president’s mandate is to steer the affairs of the nation till the president returns, irrespective of whose ox is gored.

The last time, he did it well. He put pep into leadership and made some dexterous political moves that many considered capable of providing the APC an inroad into the South-east and South-south regions where the party had hitherto been rejected.

He embarked on peace and dialogue tour of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, which took him to Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Imo States, a move that reaffirmed government’s commitment to addressing the sufferings of the people of the region, where Nigeria gets its major income, he openly agreed that the region has been largely neglected and promised that the federal government would discontinue the ugly trend.

Aside the Niger Delta region parley that promises to bring better rapport between the people and the federal government, Osinbajo got the support of the duo of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogora, to approve the federal government’s $1 billion Eurobond.

The Eurobond, amounting to $4.5 billion, formed part of the federal government’s three-year $30 billion external borrowing programme, which was rejected by the National Assembly last year.

While acting, Osinbajo assented to seven bills passed by the National Assembly. The acts that were mainly amendments to the principal act include Oath (Amendment) Act 2017, Defence Space Administration Act, Veterinary Surgeons (Amendment) Act), National Film and Video Censors Board, Pension Rights of Judges, Nigerian Institute of Social Science Establishment Act and Mortgage Institutions Amendment Act.

He held forth and made the news for several positive presidential initiatives. And in spite of assumptions that President Buhari was not favourably disposed to the then acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, Osinbajo forwarded his name to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive CJN.

In fact, against the backdrop of the unknown true state of health of the president, and probably the fact that government ran seamlessly with Osinbajo on the saddle as the acting president, an international human rights organisation, Opinion Nigeria (ON), advised Buhari to tender his resignation letter to pave the way for Osinbajo as president.

It is expected that many more Nigerians will continue to castigate Buhari for succumbing to pressure to do what would agitate Nigerians.

 

Quotes

As an erudite professor of law himself, Osinbajo is not one person to be cowed or pushed around on any constitutional matter. Irrespective of whatever designation, Nigerians can be sure that he would rather stand in for the president in acting capacity as stipulated by Section 145 and nothing else. The only alternative for those who may be plotting the ‘coordinator’ agenda is to remove him as vice president.