BUHARI'S ABSENCE AND CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION: There Is No Such Provision In Our Constitution”.....HON MUSA SOBA

Vintage Soba.

HON MUSA MOHAMMED SOBA

“It is immaterial whether the President is coming back today or tomorrow. “There is no provision that says that when you stay for so and so number of days outside the office that you cease to be President. There is no such provision in our Constitution”.

“It doesn’t call for that at all because the provision is simply not there. He can stay there for as long as it pleases him to be there or as long as necessary”. 

HONOURABLE MOHAMMED MUSA SOBA needs no introduction in the political space of Kaduna state; the political nerve centre of the North.

The lawyer turned politician is reputed for his no-holds bared repute as he has confronted several regimes; military and democratic in his quest for political emancipation of his people.

NAIJ NEWS ALERT spoke with him in his office in the House of Representatives at the National Assembly where he bared his mind on issues concerning the President’s absence from office and the perceived cracks in the All Progressives Congress, APC..

        

Excerpts:

Cracks within the APC; state and National levels.

People are free to say what they want to say but as far as I am concerned, there is no crack whatsoever either at the national level or at the state level. We all know what is called a crack and we know what is called a misunderstanding. When two people or just two groups, are having differences of opinion, it does not necessarily translate into a crack.

What you call a crack is what is happening in the PDP. That is really a crack. You talk about leadership; you talk about respective state chapters paying their allegiance to one group or the other group that is what you call a real crack. But, in APC, that is not the situation. 

Everybody knows we have one leadership in APC in Nigeria. Everybody knows we have one leadership in Kaduna state chapter. So I don’t see any crack in my party either at the state or federal levels and it is within everybody’s right to make conjectures and conclude that there is a crack. 

Like in Kaduna now, what is happening, yes, there are some people who call themselves “AKIDA”. Well, it is still within their constitutional rights to assembly themselves and give themselves names. When they say “AKIDA” they will still answer the name; APC and you are still under one structure of the party APC Kaduna so I don’t see that as a crack. I don’t think it is right to call it a crack.

Electoral Promises in the Build-up to 2015 Elections

Yes, very well. When we were voted into power, I don’t think there was anywhere we promised Nigerians “miracles”. 

 We said “change” and change means that we should adopt changes in our attitudes in governance, in our attitude to democracy, in our attitudes in politics and in our attitude to everything in this country. When we came into power, everyone has seen how the President head-long has taken over the fight over corruption. We have seen the “budget padding” debacle in 2016 and we have seen the onslaught against “supposedly” or “suspected” judicial officers. We have seen all these things and then the way and manner we are going about it, I think whoever wants to be fair to the government of the APC at the federal level, knows that yes, we are living up to our words. 

If you allow me score APC so far, I will say, so far so good because, the embezzlement has not continued the way the past administration mercilessly looted this country. It is no longer the bug. We are still on and what we promised Nigerians is exactly what we are doing. Certainly, it is not a “miracle” but “change”. And, “change” doesn’t just come overnight; it is a process just like governance. Governance is a continuous process and change also is a continuous process.

But definitely, as like I will always say, Nigerians definitely are not patriotic. We have failed to imbibe this culture of change. We have failed to see the success of Nigerian leadership as success for all Nigerians. We always put politics, even in issues that relate to national development; ordinary issues that will bring us together for the benefit of our country but we will always see it differently and we will always play politics in a manner that is detrimental to national progress. But, I am sure that, with PAC in government, everything will be okay.

It is a gradual process and we are on it.

The Exchange Rate and the Economic hardships: Is This Part of The Change?

When you talk of the economy, certain variables must come in to play. And, when actions are being taken to stabilize the economy, there must be fall-backs.

It is like every Nigerian knows that, when you are fighting corruption, corruption definitely will fight you back.

There are people that do not want this administration to succeed. There are people that do not want “change” to come the Nigeria way; yes, it is true people are suffering. No one can deny that but when you say a country is in recession, mind you it is not only in Nigeria, that is in recession, this is just the backlash of recession.

When a country is facing this kind of recession, everybody must feel it. But thank God, economists have told us that we are now stabilizing and I am sure and I can tell you that this 2017 is Nigeria’s exit year from recession. And, from this 2017; based on what is contained in the budget and the determination of the Buhari administration to stabilize the economy, I think very soon, what you will hear a great improvement in the exchange rates between the dollar and naira. Once the naira stabilizes, I can tell you that this thing will not be there and these things are exactly what the government is doing.

When it comes to economy as I said earlier, it is not magical. You cannot just wake up and say that; “I have pegged the dollar to exchange for #200”. I am sure that we are getting to where we are going and Nigerians should also brace up. They should be productive and not for anybody to sit down and expect food on his table when he is doing nothing. That has always been the problem with Nigerians; you hear somebody that he is this and that he is hungry but ask him what he does for a living. Many of them do not have a sustainable means of livelihood.

So, there is no government in this world that takes food to the table of its citizens but it is the opportunity that is always provided for everyone to grow in a competitive manner to earn a living. So, when one has an honest means to earn a living, I am sure all this things about the state of the economy will come to naught and, we are where we are like I told you, government is trying its best to see that things are stabilized.

All hands must be on deck; Nigerians must support the Nigerian leadership to get us out of where we are. Without the support of Nigerians, there is no miracle that makes any leader succeed when the people that are being governed do not give their support to that leadership; no matter who is in charge of that leadership, Nigerians must rally round their leadership, whether at the federal level or wherever. Anywhere a leader is, if you do not rally round him, you will make him lose interest in whatever he is doing and at the end of the day, you may not get out of whatever mess you are in. That is the position.

Medical Tourism and Constitutional Interpretation Over the President’s Absence from Office for so Long.

That is a very simple question that has a very simple answer. You know, it is very clear; when a President is travelling out, he hands over to the Vice President who now becomes “Acting President”. Whatever the President goes out for, as far as the Constitution is concerned, it is immaterial. Completely immaterial! 

Where you will have crisis is a situation whereby the President would travel out, for whatever reason, whether “medical or just mere tourism without transmitting power to the Vice President” that will not allow the Vice President to take over, based on the provision of our 1999 Constitution as amended since the power was not transmitted. If no letter was transmitted to the National Assembly to confirm the Vice President as Acting President and for that, the Vice President cannot act as “Acting President”, that is where vacuum is created and you end up with Constitutional crisis; the President is not around, and, the Vice President cannot act as Mr. President.

But, in this particular case; let me tell you, during the time of Umaru Yar’adua, I was one of those that staged a protest here at the “Unity Square” here in Abuja up to here in the this National Assembly to make sure that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was made an “Acting President” and that was how we ended up with this “Doctrine of Necessity”.

A letter was not transmitted but out of necessity, he was made the “Acting President” and to avoid that same scenario was what called for a “Constitutional Amendment” where whether you “transmit or not, the Vice President can still act. 

So, I don’t see whether there is any commotion there. Whether the President is around or not, that is why you have two people on the ticket. Two people on the ticket; when one is not available, the other takes charge.

Now, Professor Osibanjo is now in charge as “Acting President” it is immaterial whether the President is coming back today or tomorrow. “There is no provision that says that when you stay for so and so number of days outside the office that you cease to be President. There is no such provision in our Constitution”.

"It doesn’t call for that at all because the provision is simply not there. He can stay there for as long as it pleases him to be there or as long as necessary".   

       

That is the Constitutional provision and since he has an “Acting President” in place, I think that calls for any concern. Our concern is for our President to get well and come back and take over his job and continue just as we wish everybody well. But, I don’t think Nigerians should waste their time interpreting what does not really exist.

Osibanjo is just there like President Buhari; he is an “acting president” so for that, he is our temporary president for now. So, since we have a temporary president in charge, there is just no cause for alarm.

Yes, you did mention it but of course, a country like Nigeria, is supposed to have “a well equipped hospital” in such a way that we don’t need to travel out.

Every patriotic Nigerian will tell you that we are not supposed to be travelling out for medical treatment. But you see, illness is something that does not give you notices. We don’t know when, particularly that of the President, started but when something is of an emergency as his, in a manner that no equipped hospital has been in place for all this period of years since our democratic dispensation; particularly from 1999 till date, you don’t expect a hospital to be built overnight just because APC is in power. It is now that we are putting all these things in place but maybe you will wait for some reasonable time when APC would have been power for a reason period of time, you will now ask that; why is it that when you were in power, where were these things not put in place and you are now travelling?

We inherited a very wicked system from the PDP and that is why the President is now out of the country for medical treatment or for whatever kind of treatment because we simply don’t have the facilities in Nigeria due to the misrule of the PDP that governed us for 14yrs amidst wealth and everything which they have just squandered.

Medical Tourism, 2016 Budget For Aso Rock Clinic: What Went Wrong?

You know, I am not in charge of the Aso Rock Clinic and I am not in the position to talk about what is going on in Aso Rock and I don’t even know how they operate that Aso Rock Clinic. It is true that some amount of money was budgeted but, I don t know whether you know that a budget is not assumed that the money is there for you to take and you execute what you want to execute. No matter what was budgeted, that is not to say that the money was there or because it is Aso Rock then the money will just be transmitted and they do it because it is Aso Rock.

We spend our money as we get them. It is based on projections. When the money is there, they give you. If they don’t have the full money, they give you 25% and it follows in installments until when you get the whole 100% in a year. That is how budget is implemented.

Aso Rock Clinic and Accelerated Attention on Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

How many people go to the Aso Rock Clinic!

Maybe just the President, the Vice and just a few, I will say. But when you talk of an International Airport with one single 35 yrs old dilapidated runway, It is about our image; internationally. It is about security and safety of air passengers and it has so many components.

So, I think that if you are to make a choice, at least, rehabilitating the Abuja Airport runway which is 35yrs old is more important than the Aso Rock clinic. And I can tell you that because, when security of lives are at stake, when it involves thousands of air passengers, then there is no way that you cannot give it accelerated attention much more than the Aso Rock Clinic because that one is even based on assumption. This one is a daily issue and considering its age with all the wasted PDP 16yrs in power, they could not talk of rehabilitating the existing runway or, constructing a new runway for the Kaduna Airport.

When you talk about “blame game”, of course, why won’t the blame game continue? When a country that had the opportunity to prosper; when we had the history of how they squandered out money and somebody is saying that we should not make reference to them. How can that be! You must make reference in order to guide you. Of course, whatever that you are doing, you must tell people that you should not do like Mr. A and B. this was what they did and it is in public domain.

It is only during the period of PDP that you find people stashing money in soak-away pits, in private safes at home and even in farms.

What sort of madness can you compare to the madness that was going on when the PDP was in power and yet people are saying we should not make reference? It has become even necessary to make the reference.

When we came into power, the price of crude oil tumbled to less than $30/ per barrel but when the PDP was in power, it was above one hundred and something per barrel and again, we were at a production capacity of 2.2mbpd when PDP was in power. When we came in under the APC,  we came down to less than one million barrels due to militancy in the Niger Delta and yet somebody wants us to perform miracles in an economy that is dependent on oil; what do you expect?

When the oil price is not stable and the production is also not stable, it must affect the economy and this is what has even pushed us with accelerated speed into recession because when we came, this is what we likely depended on and the money is not even there and you expect the President to go to Daura to borrow money to run the country? It is not possible.

So, for anybody to say when will this blame game stop, it will never stop.

When Will it be Time to Get Cracking in Office

Why didn’t you ask me why is it taking the APC so long to jail all the looters under the PDP? Can you not see them roaming around the streets? Can’t you see them with cases still pending in courts? As long as they are there and as long as their cases are pending in court, we will not stop talking. We have taken them to court to prove our case and somebody is telling us to keep quiet while their cases still go on, what are you going there to tell the court?

So, until we are through with their cases, until they are jailed or released, until the courts determine whether they are thieves or not, we will not stop talking. 

Blame game will continue because they have history of stealing and they are before the courts. So when the courts make pronouncements, people will know what we are really talking about.

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