A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Robert Clarke has said President Muhammadu Buhari has the constitutional empowerment to stay in office for more than 8 years.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Clarke to have said in view of the security situation of the country, stressing that President Buhari can extend his tenure if the security situation of the country does not allow for elections to hold.
The elder statesman and senior lawyer made this known when he appeared on an Arise Television programme.
Clarke noted that the Constitution provided the President to extend his tenure for six months in the first instance if conditions were not ripe for an election.
He, however, warned that the nation may not scale through 2023 if nothing was done before the elections.
“The Constitution provides that the President can stay longer than eight years. I’ve always said it. It is in the Constitution.
“If the situation in which we’re in now continues, and it is impossible to vote in the 2023 elections, the Constitution says if a situation persists, the President can stay.
“Given all insurgencies, kidnappings, and Boko Haram, I don’t think in these areas of Nigeria, we can have a good election.
“So, the fact that the Constitution says the president cannot stay for more than eight years is wrong. Because the same constitution says he can be given six months if those conditions persist.
“Now, I don’t see any green light. I don’t see how what is happening today can be stopped within six months from today or before February next year when the elections will be held.
“The alternative then is for Mr. President to continue as president, allow the security watches to carry up the mopping up and Nigeria will become stable.
“Because I swear to God Almighty, without stability in Nigeria, without security, Nigeria is going nowhere.
“No foreigner will bring his money and put in any business in Nigeria when he knows that any of his expatriates who are sent to Nigeria can be kidnapped at any time.
“So, until all these things are sorted out, I don’t see any green light. If nothing happens before the elections, God forbid, this country will go down in flames,” Clark said.
TNG reports this is coming after legal luminary, Afe Babalola had called for the suspension of the 2023 elections and for an interim government to be installed after Buhari’s tenure
.