Two weeks ago, President Bola Tinubu reportedly met with top government officials, including the deputy governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, the state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Ade Adetimehin, the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Oladunni Odu, and some members of the National Assembly.
It was reported that the speaker said it was resolved at the meeting with President Tinubu that the status quo should remain and the deputy governor should write and sign an undated resignation letter.
Similarly, at the state executive council meeting on Thursday, which was presided over by Aiyedatiwa, members of the council agreed to allow peace to reign, in line with the resolutions reached at the meeting with the President.
It is very clear that there is nothing the executive council could do without the approval of a substantive governor.
Therefore, the executive council meeting held on Thursday was a mere entertainment of the cabinet members.
Without a governor or an acting governor, there is little or nothing the cabinet could do in the face of the law. This accounted for why they agreed to stand down all the memos brought to the meeting indefinitely.
For more than six months, governance has alternated between abeyance, inertia, and auto-pilot in Ondo State, following the illness of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who has been absent from duty and the state capital, Akure.
In retrospect, for over one year, Akeredolu has been very ill.
For some time, he relocated to Ibadan, Oyo State, from where he and members of his inner circle were running Ondo State.
Later, he flew to Germany for treatment, spending three months in the European country.
On his return, his family and aides took him to Ibadan, from where they are pretending that he is running Ondo State.
The crisis in the state has deepened with the harassment of Aiyedatiwa by Akeredolu’s supporters over internal disagreements, including attempts to impeach him by the Ondo State House of Assembly.
Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, should respect the law.
“There is a need for the House to follow the constitution and do the needful as failure to do this would worsen the political crisis”
We recall that Akeredolu had, as President of the Nigerian Bar Association in 2010, called on the then-ailing President Umaru Musa Yar’adua to resign and hand over power to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.
He also supported the adoption of the doctrine of necessity by the National Assembly, which initiated the transfer of power to Jonathan in acting capacity.
The constitution has provisions for issues like this and that must be respected.
Section 190 of the country’s 1999 constitution explicitly states that “Whenever the governor transmits to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a written declaration that … or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office… Such functions shall be discharged by the deputy governor as acting governor.”
We urge Governor Akeredolu to immediately act according to this provision of the law. When he fails to oblige, Section 189 of the 1999 constitution should be allowed to prevail.
Section 189(1) affirms that the 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 … is incapable of discharging the functions of his office.”
However, this would require, as contained in sub-section (b) of this section, verification by a medical panel appointed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
Section 189(2) further provides that where the medical panel certifies in its report that in its opinion the governor “Is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office”, a notice signed by the Speaker shall be published in the Official Gazette of the state government. Section 189(3) maintains that the governor shall, from the date of publication of the notice, cease to hold office. Section 189(4) under subsections (a) and (b) give details of the composition of the medical panel.
Now that neither the Ondo State Executive Council nor the House of Assembly has initiated the constitutional procedures that would have forestalled the current comatose situation, the state assembly still has the obligation to evoke the doctrine of necessity to enable the deputy governor to take over in an acting capacity.
The doctrine of necessity is the basis upon which extraordinary actions, which are designed to restore order or uphold fundamental constitutional principles rest.
This same doctrine was once deployed when, on February 9, 2010, the Nigerian National Assembly passed a resolution making Vice President Goodluck Jonathan the acting president.
While we berate Akeredolu’s colleagues in the Nigeria Governors Forum for not speaking out, we also condemn the Ondo State House of Assembly as well as the state executive council for allowing the state to suffer from the lacuna created by their collective inaction. Whereas, no one as an institution or individual would wish Governor Akeredolu out of office before the end of his tenure, his ill health should not continue to hold the state to ransom. The task to resuscitate Ondo State squarely rests on the state House of Assembly.
In their attempt to quickly resolve this matter, the leadership of the state House of Assembly is advised to ensure that the country’s constitution remains supreme.
For these and other reasons, the status quo cannot be allowed to persist in Ondo State.
The 1999 Constitution is clear; Akeredolu has the option of handing over to his deputy and transmitting that he is taking medical leave of absence to the Ondo State House of Assembly.
The only way out of the crisis is for the House of Assembly to begin the process of declaring Aiyedatiwa acting governor pending the return of Governor Akeredolu to the state.
There is a need for the House to follow the constitution and do the needful as failure to do this would worsen the political crisis.
The Ondo State House of Assembly’s inaction is a dereliction of duty and a violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
Article 190 of the Constitution clearly states that the deputy governor shall assume the functions of the governor if the governor is unable to discharge the functions of his office.
We call on the Ondo State House of Assembly to immediately redress this lacuna and own up to its constitutional duty by appointing the deputy governor as the acting governor.
This is essential to restore normalcy, ensure continuity of governance, and protect the interests of the people of Ondo State.
