Dispute Over Buhari’s Letter a Distraction, Osinbajo is Fully in Charge - Lai Mohammed

A day after the Senate rejected President Muhammadu Buha­ri’s naming of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Coordinating Vice President, the Information Minster, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has confirmed that Osinbajo is fully in charge of the country’s affairs as the Acting President.
The Senate had on Tuesday turned down the request of Bu­hari that Osinbajo should oper­ate as Coordinating Vice Presi­dent while he is away in London for medical vacation.

The Upper House insist­ed that Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) was very clear on the status of the Vice President once the President transmits to the National Assembly that he would be un­able to perform the functions of his office for any reason.
Consequently, the Senate af­firmed Osinbajo as Acting Pres­ident and overruled Buhari on the matter.
But reacting to the devel­opment on Wednesday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC), Mohammed de­scribed the uproar in the Senate over Buhari’s letter as a “need­less distraction.”
Buhari’s letter stated: “In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), I wish to inform the distinguished Senate that I will be away for a scheduled medi­cal follow-up with my doctors in London. The length of my stay will be determined by the doctor’s advice.
“While I am away, the Vice President will coordinate the ac­tivities of the government.”
The wording in the letter was remarkably different from his previous letters in similar circumstances in which he ex­pressly stated that Osinbajo would be Acting President in his stead.
The controversy over this second letter started when it was read out in the Senate on Tues­day but Senate President Buko­la Saraki overruled any contra­ry interpretation, declaring that Osinbajo is Acting President and not coordinator of govern­ment activities as insinuated.
Asked by State House corre­spondents to clear the air over the matter on Wednesday, after the Council meeting which Osi­nbajo chaired, Mohammed said that the controversy was unnec­essary.
He stressed that the import of the section of the Constitu­tion which was cited in the let­ter was clear enough to convey the message that “Osinbajo is in charge while Buhari is away.”
According to Mohammed, ”It is a needless controversy; it’s just a distraction. The operative sentence is that ‘in compliance of Section 145, sub-section (1)’. So, any other word used is not relevant.”
FG opens global trade negoti­ations office
Meanwhile, the Federal Ex­ecutive Council has approved the establishment of a Nigeria Office for Trade Negotiations to coordinate government’s trade agreements with other countries and institutions.
The meeting also approved the introduction of new Inter­national Certificate of Vaccina­tion and Prophylaxis (Yellow Card) with improved security features to check cases of coun­terfeiting and false vaccination declaration.
The Minister of Trade and Investments, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, told State House correspondents that Nigeria had suffered unintended con­sequences and costs as a result of insufficient coordination among ministries and agencies on numerous global trade ne­gotiations.
He said that the trade nego­tiations office would be head­ed by a chief negotiator of am­bassadorial rank that will work with both the federal cabinet and the Economic Management Team (EMT) which will play an oversight role.
Enelamah further explained that “some of the objectives of that office will be to help us to coordinate the various trade discussions and negotiations that will hold and to achieve co­herence in our policies so that our policies will pull our trade together.”
“This is part of an offensive strategy of being proactive in engaging some of the discus­sions we are having on the con­tinental free trade area agree­ment that we are negotiating or other free trade agreement that we have entered into with strate­gic partners all over the world”.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, disclosed at the joint press briefing that “one of the challenges we had in the past with the current Yellow Card is that it could be issued by anybody and those who did not even receive the vaccination could also get the card signed for them.”
“With this new card, you cannot fake the Yellow Card. Using a card reader, we can also document your vaccination sta­tus. So, we know whether you have been genuinely vaccinat­ed or not and as soon as we start the roll out, we will let the Ni­gerian community know about the date of commencement”.
Similarly, the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, said that FEC had approved that government’s transaction advi­sors should commence negotia­tions with General Electric (GE) to conclude the concession of the narrow gauge rail lines from Lagos to Kano to Funtua, Kau­ra-Namoda and then from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, which also traverses Aba, Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, Jos, Bauchi, and Gombe.
A consultant that will super­vise the construction of Lagos-Ibadan railway and the upcom­ing Kano-Kaduna railway was also approved by the Council.