Ministerial nominees: Tinubu didn’t comply with constitution – Adegboruwa

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Ebun-Oluwa Adegboruwa, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu did not comply with the provision of the constitution judging from the manner he submitted his ministerial nominees to the Senate.

Adegboruwa claimed that Tinubu failed to fulfil the requirements of the constitution when he sent 28 names of ministerial nominees to the Senate, which he said is less than the number of states in the country.

The senior lawyer made the observation on Thursday while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s programme.

According to him, compliance with the provisions of the constitution should be holistic and total, insisting it should not be at the discretion of the President.

He said, “First of all is to state that from the point of view of the law, we don’t have ministers currently because the president didn’t fulfil the requirements of the constitution in nominating the ministers or sending the list.

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“The first thing the constitution says clearly is that you must have one minister per state, at least there must be a ministerial nominee from each of the States of the federation who must be indigenes of that particular State; and we have 36 States.

“Then also, the law says in sending these nominees, he must do so within 60 days he has taken the oath of office.

“The president took the oath of office on 29th of May. By sending the names of ministerial nominees that is less than number of states in Nigeria, that means he has not fulfilled or complied with the constitution because he sent 28 names within the 60 days.

“You don’t decide as discretion on how you want to comply with the constitution. The compliance must be holistic; it must be total.

“At the time the president was sending the list, he should have sent not less than 37; 36 States for the purpose of ministerial appointments, and FCT is also counted as a State.

“So, not sending 37 names as of 27th of July, the President has not complied with the law.”