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Bala Ibn Na’allah, the Senator representing Kebbi South Secretariat District, has argued that the president of Nigeria and the 36 governors in the country do not have the constitutional power to declare executive orders....Don’t Miss Out! CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING..>>
The senator, in an interview with Seun Okinbalo’s Mic On Podcast, maintained that the president and the governors were not elected as executive presidents or governors.
Na’Allah pointed out that Nigeria’s constitution does not refer to President Bola Tinubu or any of the 36 state governors as an “executive president” or “executive governor,” unlike the United States Constitution.
He said: “I am not an advocate of executive order. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not make Tinubu an executive president. He is not an executive president. He is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He does not have the power to exercise executive power to issue executive orders. They don’t understand the Constitution very well.
“In America, the president of America is an executive president, so he can issue executive orders. In Nigeria, he is not an executive president. All these people calling themselves executive governors. There is nowhere in the constitution where they’re being given that right. They don’t even understand the necessary intendment of the expression of being called the executive.”
The Kebbi politician further noted that the danger of executive orders lay in the fact that they granted the president and governors the power to govern at their discretion, potentially sidelining the constitution.
He said: “So, when you sit down and issue executive orders, do you know what that means? You’re indirectly encouraging a situation where the government will run the country based on its whims and caprices order than the Constitution and the law. Where in our constitution it was said that the president or governor is an executive. It is an anomaly.
“There is nowhere in our constitution where impeachment is mentioned. What the constitution said is to say removal from office. And why did the Constitution refer to the removal from office? It is because, under section 108, immunity has been given to governors and the president in the exercise of the power conferred upon them. So, when they exercise that immunity, they cannot do anything that is criminal.”
