That Phrase ‘Coordinating Vice President’
Totally unnecessary tension and confusion was generated by a single short phrase in President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to the Senate informing it of his intention to proceed to the United Kingdom for medical treatment last week. The President left the country last Sunday for further medical treatment abroad. Two days after his departure, Senate President Bukola Saraki read at plenary a letter that the president transmitted to him. It stated, “In compliance with section 145 (1) of the 1999 constitution as amended, I wish to inform the distinguished Senate that I will be away for a scheduled medical follow-up with my doctors in London. The length of my stay will be determined by the doctor’s advice. While I am away the vice president will coordinate the activities of the government.”
As soon as Saraki read the letter, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa [PDP, Abia] raised a point of order. He said, “Mr President I don’t think in our Constitution we have anything like coordinating president or coordinating vice president. Is either you are vice president or you are acting president and any letter should be unambiguous and very clear. So, I am saying that this letter really does not convey anything because coordinating has no space or any place in our constitution.” Senate Leader Senator Ahmad Lawan [APC, Yobe] countered Ohuabunwa, saying there was no ambiguity in the President’s letter. Lawan said, “I still rely on the first paragraph of that letter, which Mr President wrote to this Senate and read by the president of the Senate. I therefore feel that Mr President has done what the Constitution requires him to do and I urge this Senate not to go ahead to discuss this because it’s not an issue.”
Saraki seized on that and ruled Ohuabunwa out of order saying, “I think it is a very clear issue and what we should be guided by is the Constitution and I think that it is clear. The letter has referred to the Constitution and there’s no ambiguity in the constitution.” Section 145 [1] of the Constitution, which the president cited, states that “Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge
the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions shall be discharged by the VicePresident as Acting President.”
But having cited it, it was remarkable that the president went on to state an acting situation different from the one envisaged by the said section. By not allowing the Senate to debate Ohuabunwa’s observation, Saraki and Lawan saved the day and they deserve commendation for their statesmanship. That is not to say there was no merit in Ohuabunwa’s observation. While the import of Section 145 [1] is clear, it is psychologically and politically very destabilising if the president does not think of Vice President Osinbajo as Acting President but as one who “coordinates activities of the federal government.”
The difference between acting president and coordinating vice president is not just semantic. Whereas one has full constitutional powers to exercise the powers of the president, including commanding the armed forces, “coordinator” suggests someone who relays matters to the president and seeks his consent before he does anything. It is not that Buhari does not know the difference. Back in January when he transmitted a letter to the National Assembly just before he embarked on a 10-day medical trip, he cited the same section and said Osinbajo will “perform the functions of my office” during his absence. Later in February when he wrote to extend the leave, he said Osinbajo will continue to perform the duties of his office. He used similar words in July last year when he also went to the UK and made Osinbajo Acting President.
It is unbelievable that senior officials who prepare documents for the president’s signature are not aware of the difference between the two phrases and the likelihood of the latter phrase to cause controversy. Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed later waded in to say, “I think it is a needless controversy and just a distraction. The operative sentence is ‘in compliance with Section 145 Subsection 1.’ So, any other word is irrelevant.” Acting President Osinbajo also tried to ease the tension by saying in Katsina that President Buhari treats him as a son.
Given the charged political, inter-regional and intercommunal atmosphere in the country, any wrong use of words and phrases such as this in a communication of grave constitutional import is bound to create controversy. And indeed it did with many lawyers, politicians, newspaper columnists and civil society activists saying the use of that phrase was an attempt by a “cabal” around the president to deny Osinbajo the acting presidency and continue to exercise presidential powers in Buhari’s absence. This charge evokes unfortunate memories of the Yar’adua era, when a “cabal” was alleged to be exercising presidential powers in the name of a sick and unseen president.
We urge top officials of the Presidency to, in all future communication, avoid any but the most legally and morally proper use of words and phrases. It is true that twisting of words cannot override the constitution but they could erode and subvert its essence. This must not happen again.