Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
*Lawyers divided over designation of VP as ‘Coordinator’
*Nothing like coordinating president or coordinating vice president in our Constitution -Sen. Ohuabunwa
The wordings used in the President’s letter should be ignored-Sen. LawanAnxiety is now trailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to National Assembly where he referred to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) as the ‘Coordinator’ of government affairs in his absence instead of using proper designation as the acting president.
Buhari had left the country on Sunday night and he is now in London for medical treatment.
Though Buhari had invoked section 145 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in the letter which he transmitted to the National Assembly, he curiously referred to Osinbajo as “Coordinator” of government activities.
In what can be referred to as a strange development, Buhari had in his letter to the Senate and the House of Representatives refrained from affirming Osinbajo as Acting President, and had rather suggested that he will be “coordinating the affairs of government in his absence”.
Buhari in his letter on the status of the Vice President in his absence, said Osinbajo would be coordinating activities of government as Vice President.
The controversial letter dated May 7, 2017 read thus: “In compliance with section 145 {1) of the 1999 constitution as amended, I wish to inform the distinguished Senate that I will be away for a scheduled medical follow-up with my doctors in London. The length of my stay will be determined by the doctor’s advice.
“While I am away, the vice president will coordinate the activities of the government. Please accept the distinguished senate president the assurances of my highest consideration”.
The said section 145 of the constitution states that, ” Whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect, and until he transmit a written declaration to the contrary, the Vice President shall perform the functions of the President as Acting President.”
But Senator Mao Ohaunbuwa (PDP Abia North) had raised an objection through a point of order. He thereafter faulted the resolve by the President not to confer the status of Acting President on his Deputy, as contained in the said section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.
Ohuabunwa said the status of coordinator of economic activities does not exist in the section of the constitution and hence should not have come up in the President’s letter, saying that the letter from Buhari was questionable.
He said: “Mr. President, I don’t think in our constitution we have anything like coordinating president or coordinating vice president. It is either you are vice president or you are acting president and any letter should be unambiguous and very clear.
“So, I am saying that this letter really does not convey anything because coordinating has no space on any place in our constitution. We have been having letters like this before where the status of acting president is clearly stated for the Vice President and we know who to deal with as a Senate.
“This is the highest legislative body of any country and if you are sending us letter, it should be direct, unambiguous. So, I am saying that this letter for me is not right and may be, should be sent back”.
But the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan in his quick intervention, said the wordings used in the President’s letter should be ignored while the Senate should concentrate on the import of the letter on provisions of section 145 of the constitution the letter is predicated on.
He said: “Mr. President, let me say that the point of order raised by my colleague and the explanation that subsequently follows shouldn’t have been and my reasons are simple.
“I still rely on the first paragraph of that letter which Mr. President wrote to this Senate and read by the President of the Senate and I will read section (145) which reads: “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 is otherwise that he is unable to discharge the functions of his office ……such functions shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
“So, any other word in this letter or indeed anywhere else is irrelevant. I therefore feel that Mr. President has done what the constitution requires him to do and I urge this Senate not to go ahead to discuss this because it’s not an issue. We have the budget and so many other serious issues for us to discuss and Nigerians are waiting”.
The Senate President while alluding to the issues raised by the Leader said: “I think it is a very clear issue and what we should be guided by, is the constitution and I think that it is clear, the letter has referred to the constitution and there’s no ambiguity in the constitution. So, I don’t think there’s any issue there. I hereby rule Senator Ohuabunwa out of order.”
Buhari was unambiguous in the first time he travel to London for medical attention as his communication to the Senate clearly referred to Osinbajo as Acting resident.
After acting for close to six weeks in the absence of President Buhari, Osinbajo earned commendation from many quarters, which reportedly unsettled the so-called cabal in the Presidential Villa.
There were speculations that Buhari was encouraged to rush back to Nigeria to take back the Presidential power, amid suspicion that Osinbajo had started gaining the confidence of more Nigerians, given the manner he reached out to some sections of the country hitherto holding the government of Buhari in abeyance.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has received Buhari’s letter, informing it that his Osinbajo will coordinate activities of government following his trip to England on medical grounds.
But Buhari’s letter to the House was read by Speaker Yakubu Dogara and it was titled: “Medical follow-up,”
But two legal luminaries, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and Chief Mike Ozekhome have expressed divergent views over the propriety of Buhari’s letter.
While Falana argued that there was nothing spectacular since section 145 has been activated by Buhari in his letter, Ozekhome faulted the usage of ‘coordinator’ on Osinbajo on the grounds that such an appellation is unconstitutional.
On Tuesday night, Falana said made it known to the media that “There is nothing spectacular about this issue since the President has activated section 145 in his letter to the National Assembly.
“We do not need to argue on a straight forward constitutional issue. The first paragraph of Buhari’s letter has cured the word ‘coordinator’ as once the president transmits letter to National Assembly under section 145 of the constitution, Osinbajo automatically becomes the acting president.
“The President even stated in his twitter after arriving in London that Nigeria is in safe hand with Osinbajo as the acting president.
“This argument is unnecessary as Osinbajo has been performing as the acting president since Monday.”
But Ozekhome has disagreed with Falana, saying that the appellation is illegal.
He said: “There is nothing like “Coordinator of National Affairs” in our Constitution. That is a strange importation of an unknown term into our Constitution. Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution specifically refers to
“Acting President”, who “shall perform the functions of the President as Acting President “whenever the president is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office.
“President Buhari may have used the term jokingly, to represent one who is fully in charge in his absence. Certainly, it is not legally or constitutionally correct.
“The National Assembly that has the sole prerogative to accept or reject the president’s letter under section 145 of the Constitution. It can actually reject the letter from Mr. President which referred to Osinbajo as
‘Coordinator of National Affairs’.
“In that case, a needless constitutional crisis would have arisen, as a big vacuum in governance would have been created. In my humble opinion, in these times that try our souls, task our patience and sap our energy, matters like this are better left to lie low.”
Also reacting to the President’s letter to the National Assembly and the use of word, ‘coordinator’, a senior lawyer and the 1st Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeazor Akariwe, said it was wrong for the President to choose a word that is outside the provision of Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
According to him, the provision provided for an Acting President in the event of the President’s absence for vacation or medical checkup outside Nigeria.
His words: “I am not aware that Section 145(1) contains the word, coordinator. So, it is wrong to transmit a letter to the National Assembly and ask the Vice President to coordinate the business of government”.
“Which affairs of government that the Vice President was not coordinating while the President was around, he queried.”
However, he said that equity recognises the substance and not the form of a matter. Therefore, whether the President used the word coordinator or acting vice president, section 145(1) of the Constitution is what should be applicable with the right nomenclature.
Also reacting in the same vein, a Lagos-based senior lawyer and a former Commissioner of Education in Ogun State, Olusegun Odugbela, said the President is aware of the provision of section 145 (1) of the Constitution and its implication and should have avoided the word, coordinator, which was not provided for under that section.
“What did the President mean by asking the Vice President to coordinate the affairs of government? Why he was not specific as provided under section 145 and ask the Vice President to act in his absence as provided under the section in question? This is Nigeria, sometimes people act intentionally to give the impression of a mistake. For me, the Vice President should assume the position of an Acting President no matter the nomenclature he is given.”
