Don Cautions On Enugu Governor’s Long Absence

An Enugu- based constitutional lawyer, Professor Race
Achara, Tuesday made it clear to those calling for the declaration of the Enugu
State Governor, Barrister Sullivan I. Chime, ‘incapacitated’ by the state House
of Assembly, that the governor had not in any way breached any section of the
Nigerian constitution.

Professor Achara whose reaction was informed by continued
mixed reaction over the absence of the governor in the state and the country
generally, stated that those likening the absence of the Enugu governor to that
of late President Umaru Yar’Adua and incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan
lacked knowledge of the stipulations of the constitution, adding that the
situations were not similar.

The legal luminary averred that section 190 of the 2010
amendment which was ratified in January last year allows any governor who would
be absent in his state for more than 21 days to transmit a letter to his State
House of Assembly conferring powers in acting capacity to the deputy while he
was away.

“I believe that is
exactly what the Enugu governor did when he conferred powers to his deputy in
acting capacity and transmitted the development in a letter to the State House
of Assembly”.

According to him, “the House can only make resolutions
conferring executive powers to the Deputy Governor to act when a governor is
away, if he (governor) fails to do so and has stayed away for 21 days. The fact
that there is an acting governor suggests that the right things were done. So
there is no real issue to talk about. People are making comments without
consulting relevant sections of the constitution.

“I also want to
believe that activities of government are going on in full gear. It will have
been a different thing if governance has collapsed in the state. So I don’t
find any reason why people should be asking the House to declare him
incapacitated”, he added.

He, therefore, made it clear that there was no comparison
between the situation that made the National Assembly confer powers to
President Goodlock Jonathan when Late Yar’Adua took ill, stressing that the law
makers acted because “necessary constitutional procedures were not followed to
back up his absence”.

It would be recalled that governor Chime’s long absence in
the state had continued to generate mixed reaction from different quarters in
the state and beyond.