59 minutes ago
1
ARTICLE AD BOX
A public commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has criticised the idea of equal partnership between a president and vice president in Nigeria.
According to him, the constitution does not support such arrangement.
Shehu made the comment in a post on X on Sunday night while reacting to a statement by the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi.
Obi had earlier said former Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, would serve as an equal partner in government if they win the 2027 presidential election.
Obi made the statement while unveiling Kwankwaso as his running mate at the party’s national convention in Abuja.
He stressed that their administration would be different from the traditional structure where the vice president is seen as a spare tyre.
“The government we intend to form will no longer be a government where anybody will say that the vice president is a spare tyre,” Obi said.
“The vice president will be a partner because we want to build a nation where there are two equal people who work for the greatness of the country. Decisions will be taken as partners. Everybody will be consulted,” he added.
However, reacting to the proposal, Mahdi Shehu said the Nigerian constitution places the vice president in a subordinate position to the president and not as an equal authority.
“The constitution of Nigeria made every vice president not only a spare part but an appendix that can be removed at will,” he said.
Shehu argued that the vice president functions strictly at the discretion of the president.
“He functions at the convenience of the president. Let Obi say what is feasible,” he added.
He further warned that political realities in the country make it difficult for a vice president to operate independently or as an equal partner.
“Cabals will never allow a powerful or busy vice president to co-exist peacefully,” Shehu said.
Constitution makes vice president subordinate, not equal – Mahdi Shehu tells Peter Obi
English (US) ·