USA Africa Dialogue Series - COVID-19 PRESIDENTIAL RULE (EMERGENCY POWERS)

COVID-19 PRESIDENTIAL RULE (EMERGENCY POWERS)

                                   Olayinka Agbetuyi

On Monday March 30 Nobel  laureate Wole Soyinka released a press statement calling on constitutional lawyers to look into the measures announced by President Muhammadu Buhari to contain and control the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria.  Many including yours truly felt the alarm was unnecessary and the President acted within his constitutional rights.

Subsequent events are however showing that more guidance is needed in the execution of this presidential mandate to avoid lawlessness and conflicting authorities.

In a case where local government officials abet the contravention of directives which state governors have been empowered to coordinate do state governors have the authority to remove such chairmen?  

The answer is an emphatic NO!  Presidential mandate ( emergency powers) is unlike military rule in that normal provisions of the constitution have NOT been suspended but only modified in the interim to enhance an urgent presidential mandate.  Thus if a local government chairman fails to comply with or stands in the way of complying with, or consistently abets non compliance and refuses to co-operates with the state governor in furtherance of said compliance, it is the duty of the governor to bring this to the notice of the Presidential Task Force in the first instance whose representative will intervene to ensure compliance.  Failure at resolution at this stage means the situation will be brought to the attention of the President.  It is at this stage that direct  presidential rule may be enforced on the locall  government regarding the particular mandate in question .

As this is an uncharted territory in Nigeria's political history direct presidential rule may mean the Presidential Task Force, or its designate at the local government enforcing compliance at the local government for the whole of the period of the emergency mandate while the local government chairman oversees other areas not within the enforcement of compliance with emergency mandate for the specific period of the mandate only at the discretion of Mr President.

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