Constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze, yesterday said the Executive Order 10 issued by President Muhammadu Buhari was a subversion of the federal system. Citing Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Nigerian leader had on May 20 this year exercised his powers to confer financial autonomy on state legislatures and judiciaries. But the elder statesman, in his submission, argued that the alleged high-handedness of the governors and the perceived anomalies in the system notwithstanding, the sanity should not have come through an executive order. Should it be by means of an Executive Order made by the President as a sole individual in his capacity as head of the executive arm of the Federal Government? “In making the Executive Order 10, the President relied on Section 5(1) of the constitution as authority for making it.

Source: The Guardian June 12, 2020 02:26 UTC