The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has faulted the position of the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, on President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to issue an executive order on legislative and judicial autonomy.
The group said in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke that it is unfortunate that a former Speaker of the House of Representatives does not see anything wrong in Governors being forced to implement extant laws of the land.
“We have read the speech delivered by Governor Tambuwal at a Colloquium in Ekiti state in honour of the retiring Chief Judge of the State, Justice Ayodeji Daramola and we are still trying to understand his description of the President’s Executive Order 10 as an ill-advised move that amounts to illegality.
“This is a Governor who, when he was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was known to always speak about exemplary leadership and how members of the Executive had not been abiding by legislative resolutions, but here he is, speaking against an administrative effort to ensure the implementation of constitutional provisions.
“More surprising is that Tambuwal believes that President Buhari should have consulted with Governors before exercising his powers to issue an executive order on implementation of financial autonomy for State judiciary and legislature when it was obvious that those at the helm of affairs at State level were not prepared to respect Section 121 (3) of the Constitution.
“We agree with the Governor and his colleagues that the President does not have to issue an executive order on the matter, but there was nothing on ground in many of the States to show that there were indeed plans to give the judicial officials and state legislators the breathing space to work without fear or favour.
“So it is untenable for Governor Tambuwal to expect the President to look elsewhere while those who swore to uphold the Constitution breach it with impunity over the years. In fact, we see his speech in Ekiti as grandstanding on a Constitutional provision that all the Governors have been literally compelled to abide by, and we wonder why they had to wait till judicial and parliamentary workers refused to backtrack on their nationwide strike before they accepted the President’s position on the matter”.
BMO also described the position of the Sokoto State Governor on the composition of the Presidential Implementation Committee on Autonomy of State Legislature and Judiciary as laughable.
“In the course of his speech, Tambuwal called for the disbandment of the Presidential Committee and proceeded to raise posers about the competence of the members when he suggested that the committee ‘lacked the requisite understanding of constitutional matters’.
“Any undiscerning Nigerian could easily have concluded that the Committee is composed of people without sufficient grasp of the Constitution and how it works, but strangely it is headed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and has Senator Ita Enang as Secretary.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Enang is a senior lawyer who had been in the National Assembly between 1999 and 2015 where he was at various times chairman of the very influential committee on Rules and Business, so we dare say he has an understanding of constitutional and even legislative issues, perhaps more than Tambuwal who does not have a similarly long legislative background.
“We are also aware that the Committee, which also has representatives of the civil society groups, was inaugurated in 2019 by President Buhari and had in the same year recommended the adoption of a budget model similar to the one in operation at the Federal level.
“It is also surprising that the pro-rata release of capital and recurrent expenditure of the annual budget which Tambuwal described as a resolution was actually a decision taken by the Presidential committee almost exactly two years ago, but which the Governor did not take steps to implement until the President issued the executive order”.
BMO reassured Nigerians that President Buhari would not stop taking necessary actions in the best interest of Nigerians.