A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has said that going by the constitution of Nigeria, the country does not have either a President or an Acting-President at the moment.
According to him, the new letter transmitted to the Senate seeking to extend the powers of the Vice-President, Yomi Osinbajo, to function in as President in acting capacity has not been read on the floor of the Senate.
He stated this while commenting on the issue of President Muhammadu Buhari’s medical vacation in the UK, in a telephone chat with Daily Post.
Adegboruwa said that by midnight of Monday, February 6th 2017, Osinbajo ceased to be the Acting-President pending when the second letter becomes part of the votes and proceedings of the National Assembly.
According to him, “whatever the Vice-President is doing in the capacity of the president is unconstitutional and can be challenged in law.”
He said: “By limiting his vacation to 10 days, in the first letter sent to the National Assembly, the president has cleverly limited the acting capacity of the Vice-President to those 10 days so that by midnight of Monday 6th February, 2017, when the President fails to return, the letter he sent to the national Assembly has become expired.
“And the new letter he has written to the National Assembly is yet to be read on the floor of the Senate to give it legal backing so that it can become part of the rules and proceedings of the Senate. It has to be read openly in a plenary and it will be adopted as part of the votes and proceedings of the Senate that day. Thereafter, the Vice President may step-in as Acting President.
“As I speak to you, Nigeria has no President; Nigeria has no Acting-President.”
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