UPDATED: Yar’Adua: Judge Rules Against NBA In Acting President Suit

PHOTO: JUSTICE DANIEL ABUTU, ACCUSED OF BIAS IN HIS JUDGMENTS ON YAR'ADUA'S LONG ABSENCE FROM DUTIES.

San Francisco Jan 29, (THEWILL) – Justice Daniel Abutu of a Federal High Court has rejected a demand by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that an acting head of state be appointed until ailing President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua resumes his duties.

In a ruling today, he said there was nothing illegal about President Yar'Adua's failure to write the National Assembly on his medical leave saying, "The failure to transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly before proceeding on vacation is not unconstitutional."

"There is no mandatory requirement for the president to make a transmission to the leadership of the national assembly before proceeding on vacation or treatment outside Nigeria."

Agreeing with the NBA that the 1999 Constitution did not provide that a President should govern from a location abroad, Abutu however, said the President could delegate his authorities to the Vice President.

"The functions of the office of the President cannot be held in abeyance on account of the omission of the president to transmit a written declaration," Abutu added.

Continuing, he said the duty of the court was to interpret the law and not what it ought to be noting that Section 145 of the Constitution provides the conditions that must be satisfied by any president when going on a vacation but left it discretional.