January 21, 2010
Though I have not seen an enrolled copy of the ruling of the Federal High Court delivered today by the Honourable Justice Abutu, from media reports it is clear that Honourable Justice Abutu sought to enforce the provisions of section 144 of the 1999 Constitution by compelling the Executive Council of the Federation to meet within two weeks to determine by resolution whether President Yar’Adua is medically fit to continue in office as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Though I have not seen an enrolled copy of the ruling of the Federal High Court delivered today by the Honourable Justice Abutu, from media reports it is clear that Honourable Justice Abutu sought to enforce the provisions of section 144 of the 1999 Constitution by compelling the Executive Council of the Federation to meet within two weeks to determine by resolution whether President Yar’Adua is medically fit to continue in office as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However, the problem we face with this ruling is that under section 144 of the 1999 Constitution, the 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.”
From the above, it is clear that there can be no medical examination of the President and there can be no report of such medical examination to the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, UNLESS THERE IS FIRST A RESOLUTION BACKED BY TWO-THIRDS OF THE MINISTERS DECLARING THE PRESIDENT MEDICALLY UNFIT TO CONTINUE. It is absurd that the medical examination does not come first before the resolution. So on what basis will the Ministers pass their resolution? It simply means politics will take precedence over correct medical opinion. And this is another fatal flaw in our 1999 Constitution.
But the biggest blow to the provisions of section 144 as reproduced above is that it would amount to political suicide or hara-kiri for the Ministers who are appointed by Yar’Adua to now vote to remove him from office which may also sound the death knell for their political future. They will never do that. Anyone expecting anything positive to come out of this ruling should have a second thought.
Once again, we are confronted with a meaningless ruling that can only truncate our hopes and prolong our sufferings whilst the nation continues to drift without a captain.
The only way forward is for the National Assembly to exercise its powers under section 143 of the 1999 Constitution to impeach the President for the gross misconduct of not informing them he was proceeding on leave of absence and for failing to comply with the Constitution by handing over to the Vice President whilst proceeding on leave of absence.
Thank you.
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FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.
However, the problem we face with this ruling is that under section 144 of the 1999 Constitution, the 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.”
From the above, it is clear that there can be no medical examination of the President and there can be no report of such medical examination to the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, UNLESS THERE IS FIRST A RESOLUTION BACKED BY TWO-THIRDS OF THE MINISTERS DECLARING THE PRESIDENT MEDICALLY UNFIT TO CONTINUE. It is absurd that the medical examination does not come first before the resolution. So on what basis will the Ministers pass their resolution? It simply means politics will take precedence over correct medical opinion. And this is another fatal flaw in our 1999 Constitution.
But the biggest blow to the provisions of section 144 as reproduced above is that it would amount to political suicide or hara-kiri for the Ministers who are appointed by Yar’Adua to now vote to remove him from office which may also sound the death knell for their political future. They will never do that. Anyone expecting anything positive to come out of this ruling should have a second thought.
Once again, we are confronted with a meaningless ruling that can only truncate our hopes and prolong our sufferings whilst the nation continues to drift without a captain.
The only way forward is for the National Assembly to exercise its powers under section 143 of the 1999 Constitution to impeach the President for the gross misconduct of not informing them he was proceeding on leave of absence and for failing to comply with the Constitution by handing over to the Vice President whilst proceeding on leave of absence.
Thank you.
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FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.
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