The Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) yesterday said, Governor-elects may be putting the cart before the Horse by issuing directives or orders in whatever guise prior to their swearing-in. The statement was credited to some constitutional lawyers like Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) and Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN). Who spoke on a separate interview?
According to them, a sitting governor reserved the right to continue with his function as the governor until the last hour of his tenure of office as long as his action is geared towards the public interest.
A governor cannot just stop his functions as a governor simply because his tenure is about rounding up, the SANs added.
Uche Olowo, the president/Chairman of the council for Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, disclosed it is mind blogging and foreign to a Nigerian law for a governor-elect to direct a bank to stop any form of financial transaction with a sitting governor prior to their swearing in.
The SANs pointed out that all a governor-elect can do is to reverse an action which his predecessor took when it is in the interest of the general public and must be justifiable.
It was necessary to make this clarification against statement credited to some governors-elects complaining about the actions of the incumbents which they perceive as creating problems for them on assumption of office.
Ozekhome said: “Any governor-elect who is yet to be sworn in until May 29 remains what he is – a governor-elect. He does not have the powers of the governor of a state until he subscribes to the oath of office as governor.
“If is understand from this angle, then it becomes crystal clear that no governor-elect has the constitutional or legal powers to determine the direction of a state until he is sworn in as the governor by the state chief Judge on 29th May.”
