Fact Check: Did Buhari Err By Not Writing NASS Before ‘Private Trip’ To London?

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, left Nigeria for the United Kingdom on “a private visit”.

The president’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina, had said Buhari will be away from the country for about 10 days, to return on May 5.

Although speculation have it that the president might have travelled on a medical vacation, the official statement did not state the exact reason the president jetted out of the country.

Adesina, in response to the speculations had said, “Those who want to interpret everything, those who want to believe all things should just believe that it is a private trip. When a man goes on a private trip, he has the right to use his time the way he deems because he has the right to private time. So those who want to believe it’s a medical trip, they have the right to believe, if it pleases them and makes them happier.”

In time past, the president before leaving the country on a personal trip, wrote the National Assembly, informing the lawmakers of his absence, while handing over the reins of leadership to his vice, Yemi Osinbajo.

However, the president, before leaving on this private trip, failed to do so, an action that has since been criticized by Nigerians and opposition parties.

Defending the president’s action, Garba Shehu, his presidential spokesman said it was unnecessary for Buhari to inform the national assembly of his private trip to the UK.

While stating that the president did not violate the law, Shehu said, “the president didn’t make a mistake by taking off without writing a letter to the national assembly because it was unnecessary. In some of the leading democracies, it’s conventional that in fact, a prime minister can be asked to leave the public space for private time at least once in a month in some countries.

“But as it is now, there is no constitutional or legal infraction that has happened. So, the president is doing his work from wherever he is,” he said.

“Yes, it is right that the president can operate anywhere he is. If you are a permanent secretary and the president calls you from Abidjan and says you go and repair that road, are you going to tell him that Mr. President you are not a Nigerian in Abidjan, you are not going to do the work?

“Do you think you will have your job waiting for you the next day? These are matters of common sense.”

However, a look into the 1999 Nigerian constitution, shows that the President may not have committed any constitutional infraction by failing to transmit a letter to the National Assembly.

The 1999 Constitution does not include ‘private visit’ in the clause explaining when the President must write NASS.

Section 145(1) states that the president is expected to transmit a letter to the NASS before proceeding on vacation or if he is unable to discharge the functions of his office. Until he transmit a letter stating contrary, the vice presidents vice shall act in his stead.

Section 145(1) states thus, “whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President.”

The subsection explained that if the president failed to transmit the letter within 21 days, then the NASS will mandate the Vice-President to act in his stead pending when the president transmits a letter stating his readiness to resume his functions as president.

Subsection two states: “In the event that the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of the President as Acting President until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is now available to resume his functions as President.’’