LEGISLATIVE MUSINGS: ISSUE #3 - CESSATION OF OFFICE OF ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS DUE TO INFIRMITY OF THE BODY OR THE MIND

EGHEOMHANRE EYIEYIEN FOR SENATE 2015 (EDO CENTRAL SENATORIAL DISTRICT - ESANLAND)

LEGISLATIVE MUSINGS

ISSUE #3.

CESSATION OF OFFICE OF ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS DUE TO INFIRMITY OF THE BODY OR THE MIND

Sad to say, but Gov. Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State cut a very pathetic sight yesterday as he was being helped to disembark from the chartered aircraft that brought him to Abuja after undergoing ...

medical treatment abroad for about ten months following the injuries he sustained when his self-piloted plane crashed on October 25, 2012, in Yola, Adamawa State. He was frail, emaciated, and still looked unwell and unfit. Why did he allow himself to be put under such needless trauma?! Gov. Suntai should still be in a hospital.

The Taraba State House of Assembly should immediately declare him incapacitated and unable to perform his duties as the State Governor. And the Deputy Governor of Taraba State should be sworn in as the substantive Governor.

Section 189 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the following provisions with regard to the cessation of the office of a State Governor due to infirmity of body or mind:

"(1) The Governor or Deputy Governor of a State shall cease to hold office if
 

(a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the executive council of the State, it is declared that the Governor or Deputy Governor is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and
 

(b) the declaration in paragraph (a) of this subsection is verified, after such medical examination as may be necessary, by a medical panel established under subsection (4) of this section in its report to the speaker of the House of Assembly.
 

(2) Where the medical panel certifies in its report that in its opinion the Governor or Deputy Governor is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the State.
 

(3) The Governor or Deputy Governor shall cease to hold office as from the date of publication of the notice of the medical report pursuant to subsection (2) of this section.
 

(4) The medical panel to which this section relates shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly of the State, and shall comprise five medical practitioners in Nigeria -
 

(a) one of whom shall be the personal physician of the holder of the office concerned; and
 

(b) four other medical practitioners who have, in the opinion of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, attained a high degree of eminence in the field of medicine relative to the nature of the examination to be conducted in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section.
 

(5) In this section, the reference to "executive council of the State" is a reference to the body of
Commissioners of the Government of the State, howsoever called, established by the Governor and charged with such responsibilities for the functions of Government as the Governor may direct."

 The above provisions of the Nigerian Constitution need to be amended as soon as possible as they can and have been abused where a loyalist of an infirmed Governor serves as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly as is often the case in our country. Which Speaker would dare to set up a Medical Panel which would certify in its report that "in its opinion the Governor or Deputy Governor is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office"?! We seem not to have learnt anything from our experience with late President Umaru Yar'adua's sickness and the intrigues by the Turai Yar'adua-led Cabal to keep him in power even when his incapacity was obvious. Section 189 of our Constitution is superfluous and cannot be implemented as is in reality.

Indeed, it is imperative that all sections of the Constitution which relate to the cessation of office of all elected officials (the President, the Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Federal or State Legislators, Local Government Chairmen and Local Government Councillors) be amended. The Constitution should simply state that an elected official who is absent from work for a cumulative period of ninety (90) days within one calendar year on account of infirmity of the body, infirmity of the mind, or any other reason would have his/her office declared vacant and he/she would be replaced as provided for by the Constitution.

Esan di fure!

Nigeria di fure!!