Atiku Abubakar
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has stated that President Bola Tinubu is not ready for governance because he has not convened a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting since August.
Tinubu has not convened the FEC meeting 44 days after the inaugural cabinet session held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja on August 28.
However, 44 days after the inaugural meeting, the President’s failure to preside over any FEC meeting has continued to raise questions about his capacity to lead the country.
Reacting to the development in a statement on Thursday, a media aide to the PDP candidate, Phrank Shaibu, said President Tinubu is breaking the law by presiding over just one FEC meeting since he inaugurated his cabinet.
Atiku’s spokesman claimed that Tinubu is breaking section 148(2) of the 1999 Constitution, adding that having presided over just one FEC meeting is an indication that Tinubu is not ready for governance.
Shaibu said the cabinet might not be having regular FEC meetings because “they are clueless” and have “nothing to discuss”.
He said: “Tinubu is obviously not ready for governance. After appointing 48 ministers – the highest in history – he has decided not to be meeting with them.
“This contravenes Section 148(2) of the 1999 constitution, which expressly provides that the president shall hold regular meetings with the vice-president and ministers for the purposes of determining domestic and foreign policies of the government.
“It is bad enough that a man who claimed he would hit the ground running from day one took over 60 days to name all his ministers and took 84 days to inaugurate them. Even now, he has held only one cabinet meeting since the inauguration of the cabinet.
“For a man who has been gallivanting all over the place purportedly in search of foreign investors, it is laughable that he cannot even meet with his own team at home.”