President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the National Assembly
notifying it of his resumption of office after returning at the weekend from
his May 7, 2017 medical trip to the United Kingdom.
His Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters
(House of Representatives), Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, who transmitted the
letter, said the exercise was in fulfillment of constitutional provisions.
With the transmission, it is hoped that governance would
take full steam and the struggle for powers by the various brokers in the
corridor of power while he was away would abate.
Kawu noted that the yearly vacation by the lawmakers did not
invalidate the process, as there were legislative staff on ground to receive
the correspondence.
He pledged that his principal was fit for the task ahead,
adding that there were no indications that the president would be returning
anytime soon for another round of medical vacation.
The notification read: “In compliance with Section 145 of
the 1999 Constitution (as amended), I write to intimate the House that I have
resumed my functions as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with
effect from Monday, August, 21, 2017 after my medical follow-up in the United
Kingdom.”
The Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, yesterday
confirmed a receipt of the letter. Buhari, on May 7, transferred power to his
deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as acting president.
Meanwhile, there are indications that the president would be
running the government from his official residence as a presidency source told
The Guardian that renovation was being carried out on his office by
construction giant, Julius Berger. The time frame for his governing from home
was, however, not disclosed.
Also, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the
President, Femi Adesina, confirmed the transmission of the letter to State
House correspondents. “Yes, some few minutes past 11:00 a.m., the president
signed the letter notifying the National Assembly of his resumption,” he said.
On his principal’s nationwide address yesterday, Adesina
said “that broadcast was just one step of many steps that are going to be taken
in the days, weeks and months ahead so you can’t expect that everything will be
said in one day.”
Also yesterday, Osinbajo briefed the President. The Personal
Assistant to Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, who confirmed the development
through his twitter handle@BashirAhmaad, explained why his principal was
working from home.
In another development, the president and a group, Eastern
Consultative Assembly (ECA), have disagreed over the indivisibility of the
country. While the nation’s number one citizen maintained that Nigeria’s unity
remains non-negotiable the group insisted on the contrary.
In his national broadcast, Buhari said agitations for the
division of the country was a waste of time, as he and other leaders, including
the late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, had voted for the unity of the
nation.
He cautioned Nigerians who use the social media as another
platform to fan the embers of division, to desist from the act.
“In 2003 after I joined partisan politics, the late Chief
Emeka Ojukwu came and stayed as my guest in my hometown of Daura. Over two
days, we discussed in great depth till late into the night and analysed the
problems of Nigeria. We both came to the conclusion that the country must
remain one and united. Nigeria’s unity
is settled and not negotiable,” the president affirmed.
But ECA, in a statement yesterday by its Secretary General,
Elliot Uko, said the situation of the country was indicative that its unity was
shaky and should be renegotiated.
Besides, the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) has warned
that the clamour for secession would not advance the cause of Igbo people,
saying the agitators were enemies of the Igbo.
During a solidarity rally yesterday in Enugu, the group
maintained that the Southeast region would benefit more in a united Nigeria.
GUARDIAN
GUARDIAN
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