QUESTION: Can an underperforming president be recalled — as suggested by Anyim?

On Wednesday, Anyim Pius Anyim, a presidential hopeful on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he should be recalled if he fails to perform as president after one year.

Anyim stated this while addressing members of the PDP’s national working committee (NWC) at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.

The former senate president said having served in various capacities, including as a former secretary to the government of the federation, he has the experience to lead the country to greatness if elected president.

“My experience is cognate; my capacity is proven; my nationalist disposition is established and my knowledge of our country is profound,” he had said.

“If you give me the ticket of our great party, I shall surely win the general election and return to government as president to continue the truncated good work PDP was doing for the country.   

“Mr chairman, if I run this country for one year and you don’t see the difference between light and darkness, recall me.”

The comment of the former senate president has elicited diverse reactions and raised the question of whether a sitting president can be recalled by the electorate.

WHAT IS A RECALL?

A recall is the constitutional power of the electorate to remove elected officials from office before their term expires.

The process and procedures for recalling an elected official are explicitly laid out in the 1999 constitution as amended.

WHO CAN BE RECALLED?

Sections 110 and 69 of the constitution stipulate the recall process for elected officials — state legislators, members of the house of representatives and senators.

According to section 69 of the nation’s grand norm, a member of the senate or house representatives may be recalled if: (A) “There is presented to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission a petition in that behalf signed by more than onehalf of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member.”

Section 69 (b) adds that: “The petition is thereafter, in a referendum conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission within ninety days of the date of receipt of the petition, approved by a simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency.”

This recall exercise does not apply to elected executives such as the president, vice-president, governor and deputy governor.

CAN A PRESIDENT BE RECALLED?

There is no provision in the constitution stipulating that a president can be recalled.

Since there’s no constitutional foundation on which a president can be recalled, how then can the number one citizen be thrown out of office?

Sections 135, 143, and 144 of the constitution provide the grounds for a president’s removal from office, which include impeachment by the national assembly, and resignation if the president is incapable of discharging the functions of his office or dies while in office.

‘MERE POLITICAL STATEMENT’

Speaking with TheCable, Seprebofa M. Oyeghe, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, described Anyim’s remark as a “mere political statement” made out of a desire to get his party’s ticket, and ultimately elected president.

“I consider it as a statement made by the way while people are desirous of securing political mandate. It has no legal foundation, it has no basis,” he said.

“There are procedures through which a president can be removed or the office of the president can be declared vacant.

“The principle of recall does not apply to the president, vice-president likewise governor and deputy governor.

“The principle of recall is applicable to only legislators and they are stringent procedures. It is not something that a legislator would just say recall me or I want to recall myself.

“For the president and vice-president, the principle of recall does not apply. If a president is not performing, the best he can do is to resign or by impeachment by the appropriate authority, in this case, the national assembly. Or other factors like death and incapacitation if he has been declared by a certified medical doctor.”

REMARK ‘MADE IN ERROR’

Henry Kelechukwu Eni-Otu, a human rights lawyer, told TheCable that it is “certainly impossible” for the voters to recall a president.

He reiterated that it is only state and federal legislators that are affected by their constituents’ constitutional power of recall.

“So, in no circumstance can a president be recalled,” he said.

“I am sure in our short practice of democracy, especially since 1999 till date, we have had just an instance where a president whilst still alive was somewhat made redundant by reason of incapacitation; that was during the Yar’Adua-Goodluck period when President Yar’Adua was declared incapacitated through the doctrine of necessity by reason of ill health.

“So under no other circumstance can a president be recalled, and that statement from his excellency Anyim Pius Anyim must have been made in huge error.

“He still feels that by reason of the fact that he has been in the parliament for a period, he still believes that the system in the parliament still applies to him and an executive office holder which certainly he is not again.”