There are indications that the All Progressives
Congress is uncomfortable with the May 28
handover date proposed by the out-going
administration.
According to Saturday PUNCH, their
investigations 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.
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 PUNCH visited. However, the
Personal Assistant to the Minister on Media, Mr.
Joseph Mutah, promised to get in touch with her
and revert to their 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 PUNCH's
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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