[allAfrica.com]  [allAfrica.com_Top_Headlines]


Obasanjo Violated the Constitution On Plateau Crisis, By Balarabe Musa

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
May 23, 2004
Posted to the web May 26, 2004

By Wale Akinola

THE chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji
Balarabe Musa, in this piece says President Olusegun Obasanjo violated the
constitution by suspending Governor Joshua Dariye and Plateau State Assembly in
the course of imposing a state of emergency on the state.
The situation in the country has been complex since President Olusegun Obasanjo
was sworn-in on May 29, 1999 and almost immediately appeared to have betrayed
the cause of Nigeria and his promise to make the difference. Even his past
record of performance betrayed him. From then on, the state of the nation began
to deteriorate on daily basis. And he now appears lacking completely in
capacity to correct anything - even to arrest anything let alone perform. A
state has been reached whereby he appears to be threatening the continued
existence of the country. The latest example is the unnecessary declaration of
state of emergency in Plateau State when he has the power to resolve the
problem without resort to the last constitutional provision.
Even in the declaration itself, the president violated the constitution by
suspending the governor and the House of Assembly. He even went ahead in his
proclamation to give himself the power to make laws for Plateau State which the
constitution does not give him. Juxtaposing the latest development with that
happened in 1962, I am not sure of the prime minister's constitutional power
during the 1962 incident. I was in the UK as a student at that time. But since
state of emergency in the Western Region in 1962 was substantially responsible
for aggravating the political tension and instability which eventually led to
the coup of 1966, there was an interval of years before the worst happened -
the civil war. Now I don't think we have that length of time.

   

  =============================================================================
   Copyright © 2004 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
                         Global Media (allAfrica.com).
  =============================================================================