The return of President Mohammadu Buhari from his over 100 days medical vacation was greeted with gambol by supporters and allies amidst palpable jamboree, confusion and expectations. It was a warm welcome and well planned arrangement within a short notice. Thanks to the team of experts for the arrangements.
The President was welcomed at the airport by the acting President accompanied by the college of Ministers and service Chiefs, APC chieftains as well as some Governors of States, PDP and APC alike, to show we can be at least united along political line for a reason and more. Among the Governors was the young and ebullient Governor of the Confluence State all the way from the first capital of Nigeria, elegantly dressed and with his beaming smiles flashing through to show his excitement in the return of the First citizen. Like a member of the first family a bystander may conclude. Everything was right with his mood and joy in the welcoming of the President until he declared a public holiday to celebrate and thank God for the return of the President in a state he has tipped in his propaganda to match Lagos State.
With the arrival of the President, and the celebrations here and there, a dichotomy needs to be drawn between showing love and the politics of showing love. As expected, in the political realm, good wills are rarely free of ulterior motives, and this is seemingly one politics of self edification. The cabals are not alone in the struggle to sit at the right hand of the President, as more faces are hidden behind the smoke screen. To say Kogi State has been in the news since the new direction administration for bad reasons will be reiterating and restating the obvious. The Kogi State Governor in this new move has shown his commitment to the membership of the first family, even when the state has something to lose. There is no doubt that declaration of public holiday in a state that requires more working time than most states in Nigeria is a challenge to the meager economy of a state heavily relying on the allocation from the National Treasury. This new direction seem bereft of logic and a step to advancing the state in the comity of states in Nigeria. It is more like an affront to the not too young to run campaign.
The meat of the matter is whether the public holiday declared has any advantage accruing to the State. The constitution has created a demarcation clearly on items to be legislated on by the Federal Government and those to be legislated on by both the Federal and State Governments. Section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended) provides that the National Assembly shall have power to make laws with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Constitution. Subsection (7) of the section further provides that the Powers of the State legislative houses to make laws does not extend to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List by the wordings of section 4 any matter set out in the Exclusive Legislative List cannot be legislated upon by the State Government and “Public Holidays” is contained under item 51 of the Exclusive Legislative list.
There is a Public Holidays Act which repeals all State laws on public holidays. The 1979 Act in provides in section 2. (2) as follows, Subject to section 1 of this Act and subsection (1) of this section, the Governor of a State may by public notice appoint a special day to be kept as a public holiday in the State concerned or in any part thereof, and any day so appointed shall be kept as a public holiday. Whether a Governor can derive power from an Act of the National Assembly to carry out an executive action on any matter in the exclusive legislative list is a matter for future discussion.
It is apparent that the purport of the Act is to unify the laws as it relates to public holiday, and if that is the case, it behoves on the Governors to make sure the power given is not abused in anyway whatsoever. However, one is forced to consider whether the act of the Governor is not one of many abuses of public office. Welfare of the people and governance is a serious matter, and must be separated from whatever form of politics or political friendship that does not have the interest of the people by every serious minded leader, but it is not the case here.
Conclusively, it is an obvious fact that Kogi State has never been lucky with leadership, the position of the naturally rich state is the result of successive purposeless leadership and failure to harness the rich resources of the state in the interest of her people. Hence, I beckon on the Governor to tread with caution and work in the interest of his good people as a white lion with a good heart, and retrace this new direction policy in favour of the poor masses. We need more time on the field Working to better our lots, if we are ever going to come close to his dream of turning the state to compete with Lagos. Been like Lagos is Learning from Lagos, and this decision is too instinctive and devoid of any reasoning out of the box.
– Francis O. Akoji Esq.
Legal practitioner
