President Muhammadu Buhari in a handshake with the SGF Mr. Boss Mustapha during an audience with Founder of Dana Air the State House, Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. JULY 3 2019.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned what it called the assumption of Presidential powers by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, to announce an extension of the Covid-19 lockdown and curfew in the country, with regards to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is even as the party said that Nigerians would like to hear from President Muhammadu Buhari, whom they re-elected to govern them in the 2019 elections.
In a statement issued by its National Spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP noted that the action of the SGF “has brought serious confusion in the polity, regarding the legality or otherwise of the directives contained in the SGF’s announcement”.
The statement further read: “Such powers are vested in the person and Office of Mr. President, and not exerciseable by proxy, directly or indirectly, which makes the action of the SGF a recipe for serious constitutional crisis in our country.
“Our nation is a State governed by dictates of the law, particularly in the exercise of powers vested in statutory Offices, especially that of the President.
“The PDP holds that the announcement by the SGF is therefore, another manifestation of abuse of our statutory Offices arising from the abdication of responsibilities by President Buhari, since the last five years, which had also become more pronounced in this fight against Covid-19.
“Our party, therefore, invites Mr. President to end the confusion in the polity, arising from the action of the SGF, by immediately addressing Nigerians in his official capacity, to fulfil the demands of our laws in respect of the necessary protocols on restrictions and other management procedures in the fight against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in our country.”
Boss Mustapha who chairs the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, announced an extension of the partially relaxed lockdown on Monday, for another two weeks.
