Buhari’s tenure extension is immoral, unconstitutional, he insists
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Robert Clarke’s bait to Muhammadu Buhari has been faulted by Wole Olanipekun who wonders why a fellow SAN would quote Section 135 (3) of the Constitution out of context to prod Nigeria’s worst President to extend his tenure by fiat.
Buhari has rejected the idea.
But the Northern cabal may bribe and cajole Southern renegades to team up with them and persuade him to change his mind, and stay put in the Villa, even as he has deliberately dismantled governance structures in his seven years on the job.
Buhari needs only the excuse of insecurity to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to elongate his tenure by arguing that election cannot be conducted, according to Clarke, quoting the Constitution.
Clarke insisted on ARISE TV on Monday that the Constitution allows Buhari to extend his expired tenure every six months until he is satisfied that the security problem has been solved.
“The Constitution says I am going to stay for six months and in the first instance.
“So, the fact that the Constitution says the President cannot stay for more than eight years is wrong. Because the same Constitution says he can be giving himself six months if those conditions persist,” Clarke argued.
By Clarke’s reasoning, Buhari can decide to remain in office perpetually. In order words, there is room for him to manipulate the Constitution to be a life President.
Olanipekun, former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) now Body of Benchers (BoB) Chairman, countered on Wednesday that Clarke twisted the Constitution to make an immoral suggestion which threatens the country’s democracy.
He said the only situation where an election could be postponed is if Nigeria is at war with a foreign country, as provided in Section 135(3), which cannot be equated with the current security challenge in the North.
He urged Buhari to resist the temptation to cling to power when his tenure expires.
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Direct call to breach the Constitution
“I am afraid, I cannot agree with the postulations and prognosis of my learned friend of the Inner Bar (Clarke) as, same, with much respect to him, are not constitutional, legal, legitimate, moral, democratic, acceptable, reasonable, or in the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians,” Olanipekun said in the statement, per The Nation.
“While it is glaring that Nigeria is bedevilled by a mountain of daunting challenges, including insecurity, this cannot be any justification for a call for … Buhari or any President, howsoever, to extend his tenure outside the constitutionally provided maximum period of eight years, as prescribed by the combined provisions of Sections 135(2) and 137(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“With further respect, the suggestion is a direct call to the breach of the Constitution, as well as its spirit, tenor and letter.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that the result of such a proposition would further compound the conundrum that we have steeped into and, plunge us to a latent state of anomie.
“It is quite disturbing, unfortunate, uncheering, and very worrisome that since 1999, Nigeria has been migrating from one problem to another, oscillating from one crisis to another; graduating from one degree of catastrophe to another; as a result of which the landscape has become a practising pitch for all sorts of theories, ideologies, ideas, suggestions, prognosis and hypothesis, the last of which has just come from the respected … Clarke, SAN.
“As stated earlier, this suggestion, if considered at all, how much being implemented, would no doubt aggravate our already compounded woes and terminate the survival of the present democratic adventure.
“It is apt to caution, applying the old adage: ‘ye deity, if you cannot improve or salvage my situation, leave me as you have met me.’
Buhari has no power to extend his tenure
“To … Buhari, my honest, friendly, professional and civic advice is that he should treat this advice or any invitation to him to extend his tenure by a millisecond beyond 29 May 2023 with a pinch of salt. It is in our collective interest if this proposition is nipped in the bud.
“In parenthesis, the President does not have the power to extend his tenure; no President has that power or vires to so do.
“The tenure was given to him by Nigerians and, as at the time of donating that tenure to him, the covenant between the donors and the donee was that in the first instance, it was for a term certain of four years; and upon renewal in 2019, it was for an extended term certain of four years; no more, no less!
“If, for example, as rightly surmised by … Clarke, that [Olusegun] Obasanjo did a ‘negative act’ by seeking a third term in office, wanting to goad the National Assembly into rubber stamping his unconstitutional bid, why then is … Clarke prompting PMB to follow the same illegal and undemocratic route?
“To my mind, this is a suggestion akin to advising PMB to embark on a third term bid or adventure like OBJ, who … Clarke pointed out as having done a ‘negative act.’
“The celebrated case of Marwa V. Nyako (2012) 6 NWLR (Pt. 1296) 199 resolves all issues and doubts relating and pertaining to the certainty and sanctity of the eight-year maximum period permitted by the Constitution for a Chief Executive, either of the State or Federation.”
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