Edwin Clark: Buhari can’t rule Nigeria in the UK while on medical leave.

Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately transfer authority to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo while he is in the UK for medical treatment.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday at his Asokoro residence in Abuja, the elder statesman referred to President Buhari’s refusal to delegate authority to the vice president as illegal and unconstitutional. He also questioned why the president was afraid to do so given that the vice president had already proven his competence while serving as president in 2017 while he was away from the country for more than 100 days.

It is against Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) for the President to have gone on a medical vacation without notifying the Senate and giving Osinbajo authority to act in his place, according to Clark, who noted that the administration had taken the nation for granted due to the seeming docility of citizens.

He said that the President was introducing foreign bodies into the country’s constitution by disobeying Section 145 of the constitution, which requires him to turn over to this Vice President when he travels.

The head of the Southern and Middle Belt Forum (SMBLF), Clark, pointed out that the Constitution does not support the Presidency’s frequent reliance on the notion that transferring authority to the Vice President only applies when the President must be absent for more than 21 days.

“Section 145 of the Constitution is quite straightforward and basic,” he remarked. There is no problem with 21 days, and the president cannot add something that isn’t already in the constitution.

“According to Section 145, the President must notify the National Assembly, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House anytime he will be gone on a medical vacation. The constitution also gives the Vice President the authority to serve as President during his absence. There, the term “must” is employed.

“Where did you obtain that (21 days, Mr. President)? Except that it would be a different constitution, that one doesn’t exist. I practice law.