Human rights activist and lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has specified that as long as the President doesn’t exceed the regulated 60 days of annual leave, there should be no major cause for worry.
In his exclusive interview with the Guardian, He said that “legally, the President is entitled to 60 days annual leave from 2015 to 2016. If he has not exhausted this leave prior to this time, he is entitled to his annual vacation. But I am aware that the President has in times past, enjoyed part of his annual leave, in 2016, when he first traveled for alleged ‘ear infection’.”
“As it is now, the President has not disclosed to Nigerians that he is on annual leave, but what he did was to convert his annual leave to medical leave, which he has now stated to be indefinite. Generally, the Senate should not allow the President such indefinite period of leave, given the sensitive nature of his office.”
He also added that on the determination of the indefinite time frame of the leave, the law should come into play indicating his inability to perform as President.
“Once it is impossible to determine definitively, the period of days to be spent by the President, whether on annual vacation or medical vacation, what that translates to in law is that the President has given indication of his inability to perform the functions of his office, leaving Nigerians with no other choice than to replace him immediately, with the Acting President as the substantive President.”
He also stressed that in a functional democracy, the vacuum of the President’s absence must be filled and the appointment of an Acting President does not suffice as the best solution.
He also added that “A President of a sovereign state as Nigeria cannot be allowed to abscond his duty post under the guise of medical vacation. In this case, the President has turned himself into some form of tourist attraction, whereby, he has turned his abode into an alternative government house, where who-is-who in Nigeria now troop to, giving room for speculations and vacuum in governance.”
“If by the end of February 2017, the President is unable, for reason of ill health, to resume his normal duties as President, then the Senate should proceed to invoke the provisions of section 144 of the Constitution to declare his seat vacant, so that the Vice President will officially step into the position of President.”
“This is because we cannot afford the Yaradua scenario again in this country, whereby; those who were not elected into office by the people of Nigeria are the ones to be ruling us by proxy, on account of the prolonged absence of the President.”
“The facts surrounding the President’s absence presently is a great indictment of the administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is daily turning to be a Congress of deceivers and abusers of the rights of the people.
It is inconceivable that Nigeria would have got to this ugly stage of deliberate deception and manipulation. It is thus unacceptable that we should be forced to put up with this situation, which should easily be remedied by the APC, since the President and the Vice-President are from the same ruling party.
He also added the need for the legislative arm of the government to follow on the rule of law on these matters, stating that it becomes necessary for National Assembly to re-instate the Vice President as his replacement if President Buhari does not return by the end of the month.