By Paul Efiong. Human rights lawyer, Ebun-olu Adegboruwa, has enjoined the Senate to urgently declare the Office of the President vacant since the present occupier, President Muhammadu Buhari, has not been able to discharge the functions of that office in the last few weeks.
In a statement on Tuesday, Adegboruwa, posited that even though, Mr Buhari is human, the constitutional provisions must be respected.
He therefore, called on the Senate to constitute a medical team that will assess the health of the President, adding that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, must be sworn in forthwith in acting capacity.
The statement reads: “Since I personally got to know of the ill health of General Buhari, I’ve changed a lot of my views concerning his government. We are all human after all, and no one can play God or rejoice over another man on account of his ill health
“I then decided to pray for the President and also to lie low, in respect of my usual assessment of his policies, in order to give him enough time to fully recover. But hard as I tried, I couldn’t just convince Uncle Lai Mohammed or any other member of General Buhari’s cabinet, to publicly admit to the people of Nigeria that the President is truly and seriously sick, as sick could be, even though “I personally know the true position.
On account purely of his ill health, the President has not been performing his official duties, he has not been able to preside over the Federal Executive Council and he has not been seen in public for about two weeks now
“Even though the President is human, the Constitution anticipates a fit and proper chief executive, to be in charge of and run the affairs of Nigeria, which General Buhari cannot presently fulfill.
“The option before Nigeria presently is for the Senate to declare the office of the Preside vacant and to constitute a medical panel of experts to examine the health status of the President in order to determine if he can still continue to function in office.
“In the meantime, the Vice-President should be sworn in as Acting President. We cannot continue in this fashion whereby a cabal has taken over the affairs of Nigeria, causing great panic in the land, purely for their own selfish ends. Enough is enough
It is based on the foregoing that I find it hard to align with activists, who seem to suggest that all that the President needs presently is a medical vacation and begging him to so proceed. That cannot be the option before our great nation, with all due respect to these patriots. Somebody capable, fit and proper, must be in charge of Nigeria, not a cabal. And our nation cannot be ruled by proxy, through a cabal that was not elected into office.
“Where on earth did the activists meet with the President, to know that he is sick and deserves a medical vacation? Has any of them been privy to know his health status? Just yesterday, Nigerians were being insulted by the aides of the President that he is so fit and healthy that he will contest and win the 2019 election, when I know that there are ministers and aides who have never ever spent as much as 20 minutes with the President, since they were appointed.
“We do not need to wait for the Yar’adua scenario before we take steps to save the President from himself and his handlers.
“I do sympathize with the President but that sympathy is dwindling daily on account of the President’s quest to hold on to power at all costs, even when it is manifestly clear that he is not fit to do so.
“I pray and will keep praying that God Almighty will show mercy on the President and perfect his healing. But our nation must move on.”
