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Abuja, Lagos, Ogun lockdown: Soyinka, SAN, AGF fight over legality of Buhari’s directive

President’s stay-at-home order illegal, not enforceable –Falana Makinde tests positive, self-isolates, coronavirus cases rise to 131 Buhari signs COVID-19 regulation to enforce 14-day lockdown

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka,  and a human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, SAN,  on Monday faulted  the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.)  lockdown order in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states.

But the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar  Malami, SAN, in a statement in Abuja, said Buhari did not commit any illegality.

Buhari, had in a broadcast on Sunday ordered complete lockdown of the FCT ,Lagos and Ogun states as part of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, which rose to 111 on Sunday.

But Soyinka,  in a statement on Monday titled, ‘Between COVID-19 and constitutional encroachment’ signed from his Autonomous Residence of Ijegba, Ogun State, where he’s on ‘self-quarantine’, said the country was not in a war emergency.

He said, “Constitutional lawyers and our elected representatives should kindly step into this and educate us, mere lay minds. The worst development I can conceive is to have a situation where rational measures for the containment of the corona pandemic are rejected on account of their questionable genesis. This is a time for unity of purpose, not nitpicking dissensions.

“So, before this becomes a habit, a question: ‘does President Buhari have the powers to close down state borders?’ We want clear answers. We are not in a war emergency. Appropriately focused on measures for the saving lives and committed to making sacrifices for the preservation of our communities, we should nonetheless remain alert to any encroachment on constitutionally demarcated powers. We need to exercise collective vigilance, and not compromise the future by submitting to interventions that are not backed by law and constitution.”

Buhari just woke up from siesta, says Soyinka

The Nobel laureate wondered how a President, who had clearly been on AWOL (absent from where one should be), suddenly woke up after a long siesta to start issuing orders.

The elder statesman  asked, “Who actually instigates these orders anyway? From where do they really emerge? What happens when the orders conflict with state measures, the product of a systematic containment strategy — including even trial-and-error and hiccups — undertaken without let or leave of the centre.”

According to the essayist, so far, the anti-COVID-19 measures have proceeded along the rails of decentralised thinking, multilateral collaboration and technical exchanges between states.

He added, “The centre is obviously part of the entire process, and one expects this to be the norm, even without the epidemic’s frontal assault on the Presidency itself. Indeed, the centre is expected to drive the overall effort, but in collaboration, with extraordinary budgeting and refurbishing of facilities.

“The universal imperative and urgency of this affliction should not become an opportunistic launch pad for a sneak re-centralisation, no matter how seemingly insignificant its appearance.”

Malami defends Buhari

But  Malami  berated  the President’s critics, particularly  a human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa.

Adegboruwa had said the President had no right to make such a proclamation without recourse to the National Assembly.

The AGF, in a statement on Monday said the President did not commit any illegality.

He said, “It is important to inform the discerning members of the public that the President did not make a declaration of a state of emergency under Section 305(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which would have required the concurrence of both House of the National Assembly.

“Even at that Section 305(6)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) permits a proclamation of a state of emergency to run for a period of 10 days without the approval of the National Assembly when the parliament is not in session as in the present situation wherein the National Assembly has shut down.

“The learned silk also goofed when he questioned the President’s powers to restrict movement and claiming that such powers can only be exercised by the state governors and the respective state assemblies.

“It is clear from the President’s broadcast that what His Excellency sought to address is a public emergency occasioned by a dangerous and infectious corona virus disease. The restriction of movement came on the heels of advice received by the President from the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC, the two focal agencies in the fight against COVID-19.”

Malami, who is also the Minister of Justice, said the correct position remains that the President acted rightfully under the powers conferred on him by the Quarantine Act 1990 CAP 384 LFN which has the title: “An Act to provide for and regulate the imposition of quarantine and to make other provisions for preventing the introduction into and spread in Nigeria, and the transmission from Nigeria, of dangerous infectious diseases”.

The minister said it is not in doubt that COVID-19 is an infectious disease of a contagious nature which the President as rightly declared under Section 2 of the Quarantine Act to be a dangerous infectious disease.

He stated, “Section 3 of the Act enables the President to declare any part of Nigeria as an infected area. Section 4 of the Act further empowers the President to make regulations to prevent the introduction, spread and transmission of any dangerous infectious disease.

“Section 6 of the Act requires the President and State Governors to provide sanitary stations, buildings and equipment. Thus, in recognition of the critical roles being played by the state Governors in these trying times, the Federal Government has been working with the states in line with the dictates of Section 6 of the Act.”

 

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