 |
| Amaechi. Akpabio, Malami & Ngige. |
There has been very huge anxiety as Ministers in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari eyeing elective positions in 2023 remained in their offices as at Sunday, further deepening the confusion over their participation in their party’s primaries at the end of the month of May.
The
All Progressives Congress, APC, had directed that all political office holders
in the cabinet of the president, eyeing elective office should resign their
appointments in both the federal and state levels a month before the primaries
of the APC.
“Precious
Eze’s Blog” notes that while there has been noticeable compliance at
the state levels, federal appointees serving in Buhari’s cabinet, such as Rotimi
Amaechi, Transport, Godswill Akpabio Niger-Delta, Chris Ngige, Labour and
Employment and Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, State for Education, as well as the Attorney-General
of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, have all refused to
quit their various offices.
While
the presidential primaries of the APC is scheduled for May 30 through to May
31, the governorship primaries is slated for the 17th of the month
and Abubakar Malami is yet to resign from the Federal cabinet.
The
guideline of the APC compels a one month resignation by any office holder
seeking elective position and the aforementioned ministers have all refused to
adhere to this rule, even as the Minister of State for Education, Nwajiuba, dismissed
the concern, saying that “The resignation of a minister or anybody who is in
office is guided by the constitution to contest elections.
In
the minister opinion, he says, “My position is that the law of the country
rests on the ground norm called the constitution. If you do not like the
constitution, your work is to amend it. There is no subrogation of power that
is required for you to include into a law what is not deemed as included in
that law”, referring to the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)
which requires those in public service to retire 30 days before the election
they seek to participate in.
Again
brought up in their refusal to step down is the fact that this is in contravening
the contentious Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, which also demands
resignation before participating in primaries and while they have their last
hope against possible disqualification in the Constitution, senior lawyers have
told them they could be walking a very tight rope.
Leading
lawyer, Femi Falana, told Nigerian Tribune that those aspiring ministers are
not covered by the constitution because they do not belong to the class of
public servants envisaged by the provision.
He
said, “The appointees are not public servants. The provision in the
Constitution applies only to those in public service. The ministers are not in
this category and the Court of Appeal had stayed the judgment of the Umuahia
court.
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of Precious Eze's Blog or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!