Many people especially from the APC extraction have argued albeit ignorantly too of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) that Gov.Darius Dickson Ishaku's prolonged stay in Abuja without transmitting a letter to the Taraba State House of Assembly to confirm his deputy as the acting Governor is offensive, unconstitutional and amounts to an impeachable offense.
This argument is not only divisionary but also exposes the ignorance of these proponents of the provisions of our Constitution. The current argument hovers around the provisions of Sec.190 of the 1999 Constitution...For the avoidance of doubt,the said section provides as follows.....
Sec.190 (1)
Whenever the Governor is proceeding on VACATION or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office,he shall transmit a written declaration to the Speaker of the House of Assembly to that effect,and until he transmits to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a written declaration to the contrary,the Deputy Governor shall perform the functions of the governor as acting Governor..
From the clear and unambiguous provisions of the Constitution as quoted above,the pertinent question any reasonable and indeed rational being should ask is...
"Is the Governor of Taraba State on vacation?"
The answer to this question should be answered by taking recent happenings into consideration and by asking,what amounts to a vacation?
It is a notorious fact that, while in Abuja,the Governor has continuesly engaged in governance by taking steps and actions for the benefit of the State including but not limited to the following...
(a) engaging foreign partners to take advantage of investment opportunities in Taraba State
(b) assent to the 2020 Appropriation Bill
(c) organized and hosted stakeholders meeting in Transcop Hilton with Minister of Power in attendance to see to the success of the Mambila hydro Dam
(e) carries out other administrative functions
(f) etc
The million dollar question now is, could the governor be on vacation and yet still carrying out the above amongst many other assignments for the benefit of the State?
Can any rational or reasonable man conclude that the governor of Taraba State has indeed proceeded on VACATION to warrant the transmission of a letter to the House of Assembly? The answer is capital NO.
The 21 days argued by the proponents is dependent on when the governor proceeds on vacation without transmitting a letter (see Sec 190(2) ), since from the brief discourse above,it's glaringly clear that the governor is discharging the functions of his office and to that extent hasn't proceeded on vacation,then,sec 190(2) is of no moment.
What's of great importance is that,no machinery of governance have collapsed in Taraba State by the Governor's absence to warrant the noise making the rounds.
Nigeria is governed by the rule of law and no one should try to be mischievous while citing the provisions of the Constitution.
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