Former Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, has revealed that his former boss set a historic national precedent by officially transferring power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during medical absences from office.
Naijaonpoint reports that Shehu made the claim in his newly released memoir titled “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience,” which was launched on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to Shehu, Buhari’s decision to hand over power to Osinbajo in an acting capacity was a major departure from the actions of past Nigerian leaders, who often resisted relinquishing control.
He wrote in Chapter 6, titled “The Muhammadu Buhari Persona” (pages 112–113), that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua failed to comply with the constitutional provision by not transferring power to their deputies, Atiku Abubakar and Goodluck Jonathan, respectively.
According to Shehu in the book, “An important lesson to be gleaned from Buhari’s eight-year journey as president is when he effortlessly delegated authority to Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
“Meanwhile, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo held sway as Nigeria’s president and commander-in-chief, early signs that the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, exercised real or substantive power vanished after a while, with the president stripping him of responsibility, one after the other, including that assigned by the constitution to chair the National Economic Council until it got to a point in the relationship when Obasanjo whimsically announced the removal of the vice president from office and put the building under lock and key.
“During the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and the Vice President Dr Goodluck Jonathan, no delegation of authority was ever contemplated, even when Yar’adua was gravely ill. It took a massive national effort, involving past presidents, opposition politicians, civil society, and, in the end, the application of a Doctrine of Necessity by the National Assembly, to get power handed over to Jonathan.
“But it was a similar situation, although not entirely the same, throughout the five years Jonathan was president: Vice President Namadi Sambo never acted as president. However, this may partly be because President Jonathan enjoyed a record of good health while in office, at least publicly.
“The difference Buhari made in this respect was that on a couple of occasions when he had to go for medical treatment in the UK, he volunteered to hand over power, in line with Section 145 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, to Vice President Osinbajo, by writing to notify the Senate as the law demands.
“This set a national precedent of a vice president, assuming power and responsibility, albeit in acting capacity, signing Executive Orders, appropriation and other laws, swearing in ministers and the Chief Justice of Nigeria.”