Adegboruwa criticises Tinubu for violating the Constitution
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Human rights activist Ebun-Oluwa Adegboruwa, SAN has criticised Bola Tinubu’s submission of the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate, saying the President did not fulfil the requirements of the Constitution.
Tinubu first sent to the Senate a list of 28 names on July 28, a day before the deadline of 60 days the Constitution provides for him to do so after his swearing in on May 29.
About a week later on August 2, he sent in another list of 19 names. Adegboruwa said this breaches the Constitution.
“First of all is to state that from the point of view of the law, we don’t have Ministers currently because the President didn’t fulfil the requirements of the Constitution in nominating the ministers or sending the list,” he argued on Channels Television.
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What the Constitution says
“The first thing the Constitution says clearly is that you must have one Minister per state, at least there must be a ministerial nominee from each of the states of the federation who must be indigenes of that particular state; and we have 36 states,” Adegboruwa said, according to Vanguard.
“Then also, the law says in sending these nominees, he must do so within 60 days he has taken the oath of office.
“The President took the oath of office on 29th of May. By sending the names of ministerial nominees that is less than number of states in Nigeria, that means he has not fulfilled or complied with the Constitution because he sent 28 names within the 60 days.
“You don’t decide as discretion on how you want to comply with the Constitution. The compliance must be holistic; it must be total.
“At the time the President was sending the list, he should have sent not less than 37; 36 states for the purpose of ministerial appointments, and FCT is also counted as a state.
“So, not sending 37 names as of 27th of July, the President has not complied with the law.”
