2023: Uzodinma Flays Afe Babalola’s Call for Interim Govt

Says it’s an invitation to anarchy

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state has flayed the suggestion by renowned legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola, for the setting up of an interim government at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in May, 2023 describing it as a call to anarchy.

Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Chief Babalola, had at a media parley in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, called for the suspension of the 2023 general election and the setting up of an interim administration to run the country.He premised his call on the need for a new constitution that will deliver the country from falling beyond redemption, adding that the current almost bankrupt state of the nation’s economy and other crises plaguing the country had been as a result of the faults in the 1999 Constitution currently in use.Reacting to the call while speaking with newsmen after a meeting Tuesday with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja said emphatically that the 1999 Constitution does not have any provision for such circumstance, adding that an interregnum would throw the country into an anarchy because the constitution did not provide for it.

According to him: “By May 29, if there is no elected government, our Constitution has not provided for an interregnum. There shouldn’t be a gap, otherwise you are creating room for anarchy. “What will be the process of selecting the interim government because after May 29, the president may not have constitutional powers to function as a president anymore? So, I don’t think we will decide to abandon our constitution.

“Constitution is like a bible. Some of us who are Christians, the Bible is the manager of our faith. So, the Constitution should be the instrument guiding our actions as a country.

“If you think there is an opinion you think that is worthy to be canvassed, superior to what is in the Nigerian Constitution, such opinion should be taken to the National Assembly and they will, through due process, amend our Constitution to factor in such an opinion”.