Ovie Omo-Agege, deputy president of the senate, says Mai
Mala Buni, governor of Yobe, can remain as chairman of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) caretaker committee despite contrary positions.
The supreme court had in a split judgment on Wednesday,
affirmed the election of Rotimi Akeredolu as Ondo governor.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the dissenting
judgment by three other justices in the seven-member panel vindicates their
position that Akeredolu’s election is a nullity.
The opposition party said the judgment did not address the
action of Buni, who is functioning as the caretaker chairman of the APC, which
according to the PDP is against the provision of section 183 of the 1999 constitution
(as amended).
Also, Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and
employment, asked the party to immediately suspend the planned congress as it
will be an exercise in futility. He asked the party to sack Buni and anyone
holding any executive position on the committee.
He said this is to avoid legal battles since the competence
of Buni to hold the position as chairman has been questioned by the supreme
court.
However, Omo-Agege via a Facebook post on Thursday, said the
apex court’s judgment is of no effect to the party’s caretaker committee.
Omo-Agege who is also a lawyer said: “Mischief makers for
obviously nefarious intentions, resort to misinterpret the said judgment
vis-a-vis the purport of section 183 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as
it affects the APC congresses scheduled for Saturday.”
He said the above stated section of the constitution “only
bars a governor from holding executive positions like being a minister, or any
other executive positions for which he shall be paid for”.
“It does not by any scintilla of imagination, render the
appointment of governor Buni as APC caretaker committee chairman incompetent
and will not in any way, affect the legality or competence of the APC scheduled
congresses,” he said.
He said the court did not consider the issue of the
provisions of section 183 of the 1999 constitution, neither did the majority
decision make any comments on the competence of Buni as the chairman of the
caretaker committee.
“The appeal was
dismissed on the ground of competence or lack thereof for the non-joinder of a
necessary party to the suit at the lower court,” Omo-Agege said.
“Even if the apex court had considered the provisions of
Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution, the majority panel would still have
dismissed the appeal.”
He likened Buni’s position to that of Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti
governor, who is the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
He said: “Can it be said that a state governor who is the
chairman of the governors’ forum of Nigeria is occupying an “executive office”?
Can it also be argued that the president cannot be appointed as the chairman of
the Africa Union?”
“It is important at
this point to restate the fact, that the caretaker committee was duly
constituted by the NEC of the party and given a specific mandate to put
necessary measures in place to conduct a seamless elective national convention.
“There is no law under our legal jurisprudence that bars or
prohibits a governor who is a member of a political party and won elections
under the political party from carrying out specific assignments on behalf of
his party. How this will amount to holding an executive office is beyond every
stretch of human comprehension.”
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