Presidents who fail to name cabinet 30 days after assumption of office would be impeached.
This is as the House of Representatives has passed the procedure and ceremony for transition and assumption of the Office of the President, and Vice-President-elect for second reading.
The bill, which is sponsored by Hon. Kpam Sokpo, seeks to provide for the procedure and ceremony for transition and assumption of the Office of the President, and Vice-President-elect, and to facilitate the handover process by the outgoing president and vice-president.
“On assumption of office, the president shall nominate ministers within 30 days from the day he took the oath of office,” according to Section 19(1) of the proposed bill.
Section 19(2) of the bill provides that “the president shall constitute and appoint all boards of government agencies and parastatal that are due for constitution and appointment within two months from the date of his assumption of office.”
Section 19(3) stipulates that the president “shall be guilty of a misconduct as provided under section 143 (2) (b) of the Constitution” if he fails to comply with the provisions of the proposed bill. It also outlined how the president can be impeached when he is guilty of “gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office”.
“This bill seeks to provide for the procedure and ceremony for the transition and assumption of the office of the president, and vice-president-elect by the president-elect and vice-president-elect, and to facilitate the handover process by the outgoing president and vice-president of the federal republic of Nigeria by the president-elect and vice-president-elect,” Sokpo said.
Recall that in 2015 President Muhammadu Buhari was nicknamed “Baba Go Slow” for deliberately taking nearly six months to name his first cabinet after assuming office as President of Nigeria.
