I got to first know of Sir Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) when he was contesting for the Nigerian Bar Association presidency. He is a cerebral senior lawyer, whom, I can vouch for; unfortunately, he was snatched away from us by the cold hands of death on the 27th of December 2023 after a prolonged illness making him the third Nigerian governor to die whilst still in office following the late Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna state who died on December 15, 2012 by Helicopter crash in Bayelsa and Mamman Ali of Yobe state who died in 26th January, 2009.
Whenever an elected or appointed official dies in office, it poses the constitutional question of how power should be devolved and who is next in line to pick up the mantle of leadership. The reality is that in governance, no matter how important you are, once you give up the ghost there is always a speedy and immediate transfer of power to the next person in line so that governance and government duties do not suffer. Governance and government activities cannot and have never been halted over the death of the person occupying the role.
In Nigeria, if an appointed official dies whilst in office, the power is usually transferred to the most senior official in that office who will assume that duties until a replacement is appointed but if a sitting governor or president dies, a specific chain of activities takes place to ensure a smooth and immediate transition of power and continued operation of the state of federal government. With the declaration of the death of the governor or the president, the deputy governor or the Vice President immediately takes an oath of office and gets sworn in and therefore automatically assumes the role of the governor or the president as required by the constitution. This happens so as to maintain continuity of leadership in the state or in the country.
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In section 191(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, the constitution states thus; “The Deputy Governor of a State shall hold the office of Governor of the State if the office of Governor becomes vacant by reason of death, resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity, or removal of the governor from office for any other reason in accordance with sections 188 or 189 of this constitution.”
By the implication of this segment of the constitution, once a governor becomes unable to perform his duty as the governor of the state by the reason of either death or sickness the deputy governor is sworn in to take the place of the governor pending when the governor is fully back on his feet (in the instance where it was sickness).
This also happened when the then president Umaru Musa Yar’adua died in office on the 5th of May 2010, although before his death due to his long absence on sick leave, the National Assembly through the doctrine of necessity already sworn in President Goodluck Jonathan to act as an interim president pending when president Yar’adua fully recovers, unfortunately, he never recovered.
This is the constitutional and democratic process of transference of power from an elected official who died in office. Once it is a joint ticket, his deputy steps in his place to finish their tenure before a fresh election could be conducted.
May the soul of Sir Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) find rest and May God grant those he left behind the fortitude to bear the loss and the ability to fill in the gap he left vacuum.