Senior Advocates Of Nigeria Defer On May 28th Handover Date

Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Sebastian Hon and Joseph Nwobike, on Friday, disagreed on the appropriateness of President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to hand over on May 28 instead of May 29 when his four-year tenure will statutorily end.
The two lawyers spoke in separate telephone interviews.
Hon insisted that the best option was for the President to hand over on May 29 as past presidents had done.
But Nwobike said nothing was unconstitutional in the president’s decision as handing over is a process that would end with the inauguration of the incoming president on May 29.
Nwobike said, “Handing over is a process and not an event. So the paper work will be done on May 28 and the formalisation and the completion will occur on May 29. So there is clearly nothing unconstitutional about it.”
But Hon queried the basis for the President’s plan to hand over on May 28 as doing such on May 29 as it is usually done would not affect the nation’s democracy.
He said, “The best and the most appropriate thing to do is for President Jonathan to hand over at 12.01am of the morning of May 29, 2015.
“If he hands over before May 29, it means he is no longer the president. He should hand over by 12.01am of May 29 or do as the usual practice by 7am in the past. It will not be late if it is done by 7am on the morning of May 29.
“Remember that all former presidents took over on the morning of May 29. If he does that, nobody will query him and the transition will not be truncated.”