Posted by By YINKA FABOWALE on
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), has chided President Olusegun Obasanjo for his vow not to hand over the reins of power to anyone he believed would not continue his economic reforms, even if the person wins the election.
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), has chided President Olusegun Obasanjo for his vow not to hand over the reins of power to anyone he believed would not continue his economic reforms, even if the person wins the election.
Fawehinmi described the president's declaration in Ogun, at the weekend, as a bizarre, treasonable statement and "a direct violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999."
The eminent lawyer remarked that Obasanjo's so-called reform agenda, which, according to him, has brought hardship and spread poverty across the length and breadth of Nigeria, had not been constitutionally ordained and could therefore, not be binding on his successor, adding: "How can Obasanjo's economic agenda, which has failed to meet the energy needs of the Nigerian people, be tied like an albatross on his successor?"
Fawehinmi observed that the president had been taking strange actions and making reckless and provocative utterances, which amounted to gross abuse of his presidential power and against the constitution and the Electoral Act 2006, since he took upon himself the responsibility of his party's presidential campaign, when he was not running for the office.
Said Fawhinmi: "He has failed dismally to draw the line between official presidential duties and the electoral campaign for a presidential candidate of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
He has virtually put Governor Umar Musa Yar'Adua in his pouch like an Australian kangaroo, using presidential jets, presidential security, presidential financial vote and all other paraphernalia of presidential authority just as he did in 2003 when he was the official presidential candidate. In 2007, the president is more desperate and more daring. He talks, acts and struts as if he is the presidential candidate, spewing out threats, blackmail and defamation against opponents."
The senior advocate said since the president appeared to be going for the broke, especially with his statement that the April election would be a do-or-die affair, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), whose duty it is to conduct a credible election, should call him to order, adding that Obasanjo's "misbehaviour is tasking the patience of men and women of integrity and moral values across the land."
He also raised a poser as to whether the expenses so far incurred by the president by the use of the paraphernalia of the president for the PDP presidential campaign, which, he noted, must have overrun the limit allowed for a presidential candidate in Section 93(2) of the Electoral Act 2006, which is N500 million, could be ascribed to the PDP presidential candidate, Governor Umar Musa Yar'Adua. The lawyer noted that: "If so, Yar'Adua would have overshot the limit allowed by law."
Fawehinmi said INEC must be courageous enough and be independent to call the president to order, adding: "His campaign tactics and provocative utterances when he is not a candidate are capable of undermining the fairness of the election and the constitutional stability of the polity."