Not good enough

•President Buhari had nothing to lose by informing the National Assembly of his plan to embark on a 10-day private visit

President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent private visit to the United Kingdom has further heated up the polity, with many politicians of the main opposition party and senior lawyers berating the President for failing to transmit power to the Vice President as required by the constitution. While the presidency argued that informing the National Assembly and formally transmitting power to the Vice President is not imperative if the visit would last only a short while, lawyers, legislators and politicians insist section 145 of the constitution must apply in all situations once the President is not out on official duty.

We find it difficult to associate with the view that the requirements to transmit power to the Vice President only apply when the President is on vacation for a period longer than 21 days. The constitution merely seeks to underline the importance of scrupulously adhering to the constitutional provision by taking the initiative from the number one citizen once he fails to do the needful within 21 days. It is not envisaged that the ship of state should be without a captain for any period.

A historical recourse to the amendment that brought about the new section 145 shows that the failure of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to transmit power to his deputy , Dr. Goodluck Jonathan polarised the polity and nearly set the country on fire, a situation that necessitated adopting a novel doctrine of necessity. It has since become morally, legally and constitutionally necessary to write the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives in acknowledgement that the public deserves to know the whereabouts of the President at any time.

The Vice President needs to be empowered as Acting President to access some critical powers as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Chief Executive of the Federation in the absence of the incumbent. At a time when the country is practically at war on many fronts, there should be no vacuum in the office. Zamfara and Kaduna states keep experiencing attacks by bandits, while there is no let in the North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The North Central remains a hotbed of herdsmen-farmers’ clashes while kidnappers have defied all tactical measures by the state to curtail their murderous action nationwide.

In the context, it is unfair to argue that the President’s disappearance from the national radar for 10 days is too inconsequential to raise eyebrows, especially when his last official visit to the United Arab Emirates had to be cut short to deal with security imperatives.

Impunity by men in power has been the bane of democratic development since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999. We hope President Buhari has realised that, by the uproar that greeted his action, Nigerians disapprove of his whimsical deed. As he prepares for inauguration of his second term in office, we hope he would have learnt that Nigerians voted for him not because he is regarded as an astute politician but because a statesman is needed to captain the ship of state at a time like this.

While his arrival has dispelled the speculation that he might have been advised to extend his visit by his medical team, the point must yet be noted that the office of the president as number one public officer is too important for his movements to be shrouded in secrecy. Henceforth, occupants of the office should know that accepting the office is not just about benefits, but also responsibilities. He should realise that sacrificing his privacy comes with the package. It should be Nigeria first for all public officers.

President Buhari started well on this aspect of the power transmission process in the early part of his administration; he should be seen to be improving on it rather than creating room for unnecessary arguments as to the necessity to do so or not.