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Chief Afe Babalola, SAN
By Akpan David, Calabar
A former special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on prosecution Chief Okoi Obono-Obla has expressed surprise at the call by Chief Afe Babalola, SAN for the constitution of an interim government.
The call is for the interim government to take over the affairs of the country after the expiration of the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement, Obono-Obla said he vehemently rejects Chief Afe Babalola’s call.
Describing Babalola as a top-notch legal luminary in the country and a Statesman of no mean repute, Obono-Obla wondered the legal basis for an interim government.
He said such a government can stand because it has no foundation.
“I vehemently disagree with Chief Babalola’s proposition demanding the setting up of an Interim National Government, when the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari expired on 29 May 2023.
“I wonder aloud the legal basis for such an interim government. What will be the foundation on which such an interim government will be based? It is as clear as a crystal ball that an interim government that is not premised on something will not stand.
“It is a fundamental principle of law that out of nothing comes nothing. You cannot put something on anything and expect it to stand. It will collapse because there is nothing to prop it up.”
The former presidential aide said that “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 ( as amended), which is the fundamental law of the country is the grundnorm. It is the legal foundation upon which the present constitutional order is premised.”
He said that the Constitution gives the efficacy to the prevailing constitutional order impart and gives legitimacy to the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of government both at the federal and state levels.
According to him, any government that is not based on the Constitution is a contraption and illegality of no mean proportion, stressing that the constitution is supreme.
“The Constitution has boldly asserted its supremacy and rightly proclaimed that nobody can take over government in any manner that is at variance with the Constitution.”
He warned that such a government, advising that people should not be distracted.
