Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari
will leave the post of petroleum minister in Africa’s biggest oil
producer vacant after signaling that he would take the position,
according to his spokesman.
“He can’t be president and oil minister at the same time,” Femi Adesina told Bloomberg phone on Monday from Abuja, the capital.
“He will supervise the ministry, so
there will be no petroleum minister. Maybe he will appoint a minister of
state, which is a junior minister.”
Nigeria’s Senate will begin vetting Buhari’s cabinet nominees tomorrow, Tuesday.
The 72-year-old former military ruler
sent a list of 21 names to lawmakers last week, without saying which
portfolios the candidates would get.
The list included four former governors,
the head of the state oil company, Emmanuel Kachikwu, and Kemi Adeosun,
tipped by several analysts to be the finance minister.
Under the constitution Buhari must pick a
minister from each of Nigeria’s 36 states. He will not submit the rest
of the nominees to politicians until they have finished screening the
first list, Adesina said.
Recall that elombah.com editorials has consistently pointed out that by virtue of our laws, President Buhari shall not be the petroleum minister.
Section 138, Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, 1999 clearly states: "The President shall not,
during his tenure of office, hold any other executive office or paid
employment in any capacity whatsoever.”
Now Buhari has made a U-TURN in reaction to our arguments in that regard.
Pursuant to the above quoted Section 138
of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the
President is expressly, definitively and unambiguously disallowed from
holding any other executive position throughout the duration of his
presidency.
As has become a customary, albeit most
offensive, feature of his presidency, Mr. Buhari chose to formally
inform his fellow citizens of his ill-advised intention to retain the
coveted Petroleum Resources ministerial portfolio while on foreign soil,
precisely during his recent visit to New York, in the United States of
America.
Media sources have quoted the
President’s spokesperson, Malam Garba Shehu, as citing the deisre to
personally superintend the restructuring of the corruption-infested
pertoleum industry, as the rationale for Mr. Buhari’s controversial
decision.
The unstated precedence that may have
encouraged the Mr. Buhari to do likewise, is the fact that his
predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, also held the office
of Petroleum Resources Minister throughout the latter’s tenure, from
1999 to 2007, in violation of Section 138 of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
Since his assumption of office on May
29th 2015, President Buhari has been exercising the substantive power
and authority of the Minister of Petroleum Resources; and is likely to
continue to do so till the very hour of the publication of this piece.
Perhaps he may even continue to do so thereafter if he is not advised to
the contrary.
Based on the foregoing, it is
indisputable that Mr. Buhari is in ongoing violation of Section 138 of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
It is possible that former President
Obasanjo and incumbent President Buhari may have relied, or may be
relying, on the seemingly broad power of the office of the President,
pursuant to Section 5 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which states:
“Subject to the provisions of this
Constitution, the executive powers of the Federation shall be vested in
the President and may subject as aforesaid and to the provisions of any
law made by the National Assembly, be exercised by him either directly
or through the Vice-President and Ministers of the Government of the
Federation or officers in the public service of the Federation.”
However, I believe it is settled in law
that where certain provisions of any grundnorm are ambiguous on a
particular subject matter, the existence of any prohibitive provision
effectively circumscribes and supercedes every other section which may
suggest otherwise.
This means that the express prohibition
provision as stated in Section 138 of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, 1999 effectively precludes President Buhari from
appointing himself Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources and,
therefore, also disallows him from exercising the substantive power and
authority of the referred executive office.
Accordingly, the widely reported
speculation that the President is likely to nominate Dr. Emmanuel Ibe
Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as the Minister of State, Petroleum
Resources, should also be reviewed, argues Dr. Kolawole Kayode.
Going ahead with this plan is most
likely to violate certain provisions of the Nigerian Petroleum Act, 1969
which clearly states the functions of the Minister of Petroleum
Resources, the Board of NNPC, the GMD of NNPC, etc, he added
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