Princewill Odidi|1 April 2016|7:05am
I have read several arguments on heads of Governments and Governors glob- trotting either in search of investors or attending meetings to sign treaties. This is my take:
There are certain meetings that heads of governments must be physically present because of the enormity of the proposed commitments.
Buhari is in America today for a nuclear summit, this summit is bringing to a close all the various meetings held so far including his trip to India, South Africa and Iran. A critical alignment is being formed since Iran has signed a deal with US on non proliferation and suspension of the nuclear development, and Turkey need to send back refugees to strengthen her position within EU. In the same equation, Iran has to stop backing the Syrian regime, moderate opposition have to be maintained or pacified to give Syria's president a soft landing, while Russias withdrawal from Syrian conflicts will now open room for new negotiations.
This meeting is important especially for Mr Buhari considering his close ties with Dubai, Egypy and Iran. As America is making plans to put booths on the ground in Mosul, Iraq to contain ISIS, all hands must be on deck at the same time and all opposing interest addressed, it is within this context you need to understand why Buhari's travel to the nuclear summit is a must.
All 15 countries invited to today's summit all came personally, not representatives. Nigeria's role in Africa -Sahara makes us a major player in International affairs.
So for those equating Buhari's travels with Governor Ayade, they are mistaken. Governor Ayade has every right to travel the world if he wants to.
Now if his travels is considered official engagements and if he feels he is still coordinating his office from his travels, then he is not under any obligation to hand over to his deputy, but, if his travels makes it impossible to discharge his functions as Governor, then he is obligated to hand over. The deputy Governor by virtue of his position has certain constitutional obligations that he does not necessarily need to be in an acting Governor position to perform.
However, it would have been better Ayade handed over if actually he was out for more than two months as alleged by the media. But there really is no fine line here, it is difficult to ascertain if any rules were broken. So long as the governor can discharge his duties irrespective of his location, laws are not broken.
But if the governor was sick, and as such cannot discharge his duty, even if it is for one week, then a handover to his deputy is a constitutional requirement.
Again, no crime was committed if he was still actively running the state from a remote location. Morally this may not have been acceptable, we can decide to fault him morally, , but legally, i think no crime was committed and legally we cannot fault him.
On the Governors travels to about 10 countries in search for investors, he has the right to do so, but i think even though he has the power to search for investors himself, the more appropriate thing would have been to engage his investment advisers and commissioners to do that job.
Issues like signing MoU is just too little for a Governor to travel and do himself, he should delegate such exercises to his advisers, except if he assumes they are not capable to engage foreign investors.
You can remember when CRS engaged Wilmer International, the Investment Advisor then, Gerald Adah made numerous trips to Asia to consummate the deal. Imoke only traveled to Asia at the end to conclude all of Gerald's efforts.
I would strongly suggest, Ben Ayade should give this power to his aides.
In conclusion, every leader has his own style of leadership. Imoke may prefer to empower his aides and allow them handle basic things like MoU, while Ayade may prefer to do all by himself.
If that is his style and that is what he feels will work for him, then let us give him a chance, what is most important now is his ability to deliver within the remaining 3 years.We all wish him well.
Princewill Odidi
Is a social commentator writing from Atlanta
