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Atiku's Declaration And His Seat As Vice-President In
The Eyes Of 1999 Constitution
By
Goddy Uwazurike
culled from GUARDIAN, November
28, 2006
Some issues are raging in the
strategy rooms of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Congress
(AC), Democratic Peoples' Party (DPP), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP),
among others, but the most prominent is the effect of a president, a
vice-president, a governor or his deputy abandoning or resigning his
membership of the party under which he was voted into office and joining
another one.
One school of thought
believes that Section 109 of the 1999 Constitution will catch up
with him and that he will stand automatically relieved of his post.
For the avoidance of doubt, S109 (g) refers to "a person whose
election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party
will become a member of another political party before the
expiration of the period for which that House was elected". He shall
vacate his seat.
There is a proviso,
which refers to a split in the party among others.
With all due
respect, this section has no relationship with Sections 135
(1) and the S180 (vi) which specially stated that the
president, vice president, the governor, the deputy should
continue to hold office until "he ceases to hold office in
accordance with the provision of this constitution".
The president
and the vice president shall hold office under S135(1)
until (a) his successor takes oath of office, (b) he
dies (c) he resigns or as discussed earlier. S135 (1) d
continues under Sections 143 and 144. S143 refers to the
impeachment where 2/3 of the members of the National
Assembly (not the Plateau model) while S144 refers to
removal for medical incapacity. The equivalent provision
for the governor and his deputy are contained in the
Sections 188 and 189.
Beyond
these provisions, I do not see any other place where
a president or vice president or governor or his
deputy can be declared as no longer holding his
office because he has joined another party. The only
reference to the relationship between the four
executives and political parties can be found in
Section 131 (c) (president and vice president 177(c)
governors and the deputy), which states that "he is
a member of a political party and he is sponsored by
that political party".
All
that is required here is that a political party
sponsors you during an election time. Beyond
that, one is reading into the constitution what
is neither a letter nor a spirit of the
constitution in attempting or proposing that a
person who was elected into office under party A
cannot join party B without the consequence of
losing his position.
It is nothing but pure mumbo jumbo to
declare Mr. A no longer the holder of an
elected executive office just because he is
seeking an election under another party.
Freedom of association is guaranteed under
the constitution. Freedom to seek office is
also guaranteed under the constitution. Even
in the case of Plateau State where six funny
men declared that not only have the majority
members lost their seats but that they have
"impeached" the governor, Nigerian jurists
have been made the butt of jokes in lawyers'
circles all over the world.
The supremacy of the constitution is
sacrosanct. No democratic nation ever
toys with its constitution without
inviting anarchy. Indeed, the Supreme
Court said in Balewa Vs Doherty (1963)
IWLR 949 that.
"The constitution is the supreme law
and its provision shall have binding
force on all authorities and persons
throughout Nigeria".
In deed, the tendency today is
to engage in executive
legislative adjudication. This
throws the principle of the
separation of powers into the
dustbin. It is mind-boggling
when a court of appeal has given
a succinct and lucid judgment
and a Police boss says he is
waiting for the Attorney General
to tell him to accord
recognition to Ladoja or not.
We have to remind ourselves
of what the court said in
Samuel L. Ekeocha Vs The
Civil Service (1981) INCLR
155 that "The doctrine of
separation of powers is
predicated on the
proposition that the organs
of government can be
classified into the
executive, legislative, and
the judiciary, and that no
one of these should exercise
the functions of the other.
The presidential system
entrenched in the 1979
Constitution of Nigeria
deliberately separated and
balanced powers among the
legislative, the executive
and the judiciary. It is,
therefore, not the function
of the legislative arm of
government to interpret the
constitution or law it made.
This will amount to
usurpation of judicial
powers and, therefore,
void".
I, therefore, advise the
protagonists of the loss
of executive office by
joining another party to
refer this matter to the
courts. Executive and
legislative gangsterism
as witnessed in Plateau,
Oyo, Bayelsa, Ekiti
among others, should and
must be condemned by all
who have a sense of
history and a vision of
the future. Any one in
doubt should ask how and
why the almighty Tafa
Balogun, IGP, could be
handled so disgracefully
by a regime it fought
for. No condition is
permanent. The precedent
you set today will be
used as a model against
you in the future. A
word is enough for even
an idiot.
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