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The substance of Buhari, Osinbajo power transition

Sir: Nigeria is fast becoming a democracy so enamored of suspicion in its most demeaning and obfuscating nuances. It is most amazing that in a politically electrified chestnut...

President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice PResident Yemi Osinbajo at the president’s office at the State House, Abuja on March 13, 2017. PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

Sir: Nigeria is fast becoming a democracy so enamored of suspicion in its most demeaning and obfuscating nuances. It is most amazing that in a politically electrified chestnut, even the best and altruistic intention of any leader could be swallowed in mere semantic druthers.

It’s been about a fortnight of high wired scrutiny of not just the constitutionality of the use of the word “co-ordinating” but also it’s appropriateness in the transmission of power from the president to his deputy in a bid to ensure a seamless working of all paraphernalia of governance whilst the president is on medical vacation. Whilst we may knock the presidency for the inadvertent use of underwhelming adjective, a  well-deserved kudos ought to be given to the president for consistently transmitting power to his deputy anytime he undergoes a foreign trip, it’s a presidential practice not so prominent with the immediate past dispensation.

To suggest that the National Assembly ought to have rejected the instrument and ask the president to resign sounds fatalistic and politically sadistic to say the least.

By and large the dispassionate question to ask is; has the president not been coordinate governance before the transition? The National Assembly was able to navigate this political trap that would have  triggered a constitutional crisis by accentuating the substance of the transmission  instrument which is in compliance with Section 145 of the constitution.

It is rather unfortunate that any constitutional lawyer or critic would discountenance this aspect and chose to amplify a semantic Sufism.

Bukola Ajisola.

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