…. As Osinbajo formally nominates Onnoghen as CJN
Senate President Bukola Saraki has said President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently on extended medical vacation in London, will be back to the country ‘very soon’.
He stated this on Tuesday at resumption of plenary, while reading President Buhari letter to the Senate, extending his vacation indefinitely. The upper legislative chamber had adjourned on January 26 to enable its sub-committees carry out budget defence with respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
In a letter dated February 5, 2017, the President explained that he won’t be able to return to the country until his doctors deem it fit.
He therefore asked for extension of his initial 10-day vacation indefinitely. The President has been on medical vacation in London since January 19, 2017. Since then, speculations about his health condition have increased, especially in the social media.
The Presidency has repeatedly said Buhari is hale and hearty, but has not disclosed his illness.
However, Saraki who led a three-man delegation of the National Assembly to the President last week, informed senators at Tuesday’s session that he met the President “in good health and in good spirit”. He added: “He will be back with us very soon”.
Legal experts have accused the President of taking advantage of the loophole in the 1999 Constitution, which does not give a specific timeframe within which the nation’s number one citizen can be away at any given time, to stay away from his duty post indefinitely.
However, his supporters have argued that there is no cause for alarm since the President has formally handed over to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in acting capacity. In the same token, while cartoonists in some traditional media gave taken advantage of the situation, some Nigerians on social media have also made mockery of the Presidency.
For instance, one of the jokes trending on social media is that Osinbajo has ‘appointed’ Buhari as Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK).
In another development, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, has formally nominated Walter Onnoghen as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). This was read at plenary by Saraki.
Although the National Judicial Council (NJC) had recommended Onnoghen, the most senior jurist at the apex court, as CJN, President Buhari had on November 10, 2016, okayed him to head the judiciary in acting position and refused to send his name to the upper legislative chamber for confirmation in substantive capacity.
However, condemnations trailed the President’s decision, as Osinbajo subsequently forwarded his name, 72 hours to the February 10 deadline, where his tenure as acting CJN would have elapsed.
If confirmed, Onnoghen, who hails from Cross River State, will be the first Southern jurist to qualify for CJN position in about 30 years.
In line with parliamentary practice, no legislative action was taken on the letter after it was read on the floor.
Saraki is expected to either refer Onnoghen’s screening to Committee of the Whole or to Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
The Senate adjourned till Wednesday in honour of a member of the House of Representatives, Bello Sani, who passed on recently.
