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| President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) |
There are indications that the All
Progressives Congress is uncomfortable with the May 28 handover date
proposed by the out-going administration.
Investigation by Saturday PUNCH
revealed that the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan and the
President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) are set to clash over a
proposal by the Jonathan team to hand over the mantle of leadership to
Buhari on May the 28th, instead of the 29th.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the Buhari team was already over what they considered as an act of ill-will laced with sinister motives.
This is sequel to an announcement by the
Minister of Information, Senator Patricia Akwashiki, that President
Jonathan would perform the handover ceremony at a dinner on May 28.
Akwashiki made the announcement after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting.
She told journalists, “By May 28, the
President intends to have the formal handover done at a dinner so that
we can reserve May 29 for the incoming government.”
However, since the return of democracy
in 1999, the traditional date for the handover of power has been May 29,
which is also observed as Democracy Day.
This tradition has been the vogue for
the past 16 years. It also presents an opportunity for the outgoing
President to formally present the instrument of authority to his
successor in the full glare of members of the public, local and
international media, as well as foreign dignitaries.
A top member of the All Progressives
Congress, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorised to speak to the media said, “It is simply not acceptable, we
are rejecting it, it is a trap.”
He explained that from a security point of view, it could be considered a trap.
“How can anyone explain a situation
where an outgoing president and his team will conveniently excuse
themselves from an event where they are supposed to play a role when the
President-elect and the Vice-President- elect are supposed to be
present?” he queried.
According to the party chieftain, power
abhors a vacuum as such, the constitution does not envisage a situation
where Nigeria will be without a sitting President even for one hour.
He said, “If Jonathan hands over on the
28th, who accounts for the hours before the morning of the 29th when the
Chief Justice of the Federation is to administer the oath of office and
the oath of allegiance?
“What if there is even a sinister motive
to this whole saga? As the President of the nation; who will still be
the Chief Security officer until he hands over, there is no excuse that
is strong enough to excuse him from the event.”
When contacted, a member of the Buhari
campaign team, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said while he was not privy to any
meeting on the subject yet, it was only logical to ask Nigerians not to
rest on their oars until total liberation was achieved.
He described the announcement by
President Jonathan to hand over a day earlier than was due as a ploy to
rubbish the gains made with the historic win by the opposition APC.
Fashakin said, “It (the proposed handover on the 28th) portends ill for the political destiny of this nation.
“That statement is loaded and it shows
that the Nigerian people should not rest yet that there is still ominous
signs which we should never take for granted. If Jonathan truly said he
is handing over on the 28th it presupposes that he will be absent on
the 29th.
“Number one, if he hands over on the
28th to the President-elect, does Gen. Muhammadu Buhari start to act
effectively on that date? The answer is an emphatic NO.
“GMB does not start to act on that date,
if you get what I mean. Handing over to GMB on that date is not only
meaningless, it is stupid. It has no meaning in law, or reality. It
means that for 24 hours before GMB takes over there will be a vacuum.”
He further argued that on the side of
morality, Nigeria borrowed its constitution substantially from the
American Constitution, and as such, it should learn a thing or two about
how it operates.
He said there was never a time in
recorded history where an outgoing American President, who is hale and
hearty, will absent himself from the handover ceremony of his successor
no matter their political differences.
Although, it is not yet clear how the
Buhari team would handle “this threat,” it was learnt that the party’s
legal team is being put on notice to be on the alert.
It was also gathered that the President-elect and his team have kept the issue of ministerial appointments in abeyance.
A member of the party’s National Working
Committee, who pleaded for anonymity because he was not authorised to
speak to the media, said, “The general is a meticulous person and we all
know that the main task before us now is the transition committee. The
issue of who will be minister has been kept in abeyance.”
When contacted to speak on the
president-elect’s views on the handover date and appointments, the APC
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said, “You will get
our reaction later after due consultation.”
Attempts to speak with the Minister of
Information proved abortive. She was not in the office when our
correspondent visited. However, the Personal Assistant to the Minister
on Media, Mr. Joseph Mutah, promised to get in touch with her and revert
to our correspondent.
He had yet to do that as of the time of going to the press and when his mobile number was called, he did not pick the call.
The Information Minister had also after
the FEC meeting said the President had directed all Ministries,
Departments and Agencies to prepare their handover notes and submit them
to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, on or
before Monday.
According to her, it is Anyim’s
responsibility to compile the notes, which will form Jonathan’s handover
document to Buhari on May 28.
She had said, “You know May 29 is our
Democracy Day. So, we have activities lined up all through that week,
showcasing all what we have achieved and all other things we do normally
on our Democracy Day except that this year is special with the
inauguration of our new President that is coming up on May 29.”
The minister said the valedictory FEC
meeting would hold on May 20, adding that everything that required the
President’s approval must have been presented to him by May 13.
Meanwhile, two Senior Advocates of
Nigeria, Sebastian Hon and Joseph Nwobike, on Friday, disagreed on the
appropriateness of President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to hand over
on May 28 instead of May 29 when his four-year tenure will statutorily
end.
The two lawyers spoke with one of our correspondents in separate telephone interviews.
Hon insisted that the best option was for the President to hand over on May 29 as past presidents had done.
But Nwobike said nothing was
unconstitutional in the president’s decision as handing over is a
process that would end with the inauguration of the incoming president
on May 29.
Nwobike said, “Handing over is a process
and not an event. So the paper work will be done on May 28 and the
formalisation and the completion will occur on May 29. So there is
clearly nothing unconstitutional about it.”
But Hon queried the basis for the
President’s plan to hand over on May 28 as doing such on May 29 as it is
usually done would not affect the nation’s democracy.
He said, “The best and the most
appropriate thing to do is for President Jonathan to hand over at
12.01am of the morning of May 29, 2015.
“If he hands over before May 29, it
means he is no longer the president. He should hand over by 12.01am of
May 29 or do as the usual practice by 7am in the past. It will not be
late if it is done by 7am on the morning of May 29.
“Remember that all former presidents
took over on the morning of May 29. If he does that, nobody will query
him and the transition will not be truncated.”
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