All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kebbi State has lambasted the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for calling on Governor Nasir Idris to transmit power to his deputy Umar Abubakar Tafida.
The governor is currently in Saudi Arabia to perform this year’s Hajj.
The party’s public relations officer, Isah Abubakar Assalafi, in a statement he issued on the PDP’s call, said, “Our attention has been drawn to the campaign of calumny orchestrated by the Peoples Democratic Party in the state in an attempt to tarnish the image of the current administration under the leadership of Comrade Nasir Idris with regards to the transmission of power by the governor during his absence which the PDP claimed to indicate that provisions of Constitution particularly Section 190(1) and (2) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) were breached.”
He said to put the record straight, “it is instructive to note that by the provision of Section 5(2)(a) of the Constitution, the executive powers of a state are vested on the governor to be exercised by him in person and may delegate some of his responsibilities to his deputy and commissioners.”
Assalafi added that under section 193(1) of the Constitution, the delegation of executive powers of the governor to the deputy governor and commissioners is discretionary, not mandatory. The section reads thus, “The governor of a state may, in his discretion, assign to the deputy or any commissioner of the government of the state responsibility for any business of the Government of that state, including the administration of any department of government.”
He advised the PDP to avoid isolated interpretation but rather to adopt a broader approach to constitutional interpretation, and desist from false and fabricated claims, and adopt constructive ideas to elevate Kebbi State to a higher pedestal.