Umo Eno, the governor of Akwa Ibom, has appointed his daughter as the acting first lady of the state. Lawyers told EQ that the governor was empowered to do so, but it was an abuse of power.

Uno announced his daughter’s new role on Friday when Oluremi Tinubu, President Bola Tinubu’s wife, paid Eno a condolence visit following his wife’s demise. Patience Eno, the governor’s wife, died in September.

“To maintain the Office of the First Lady and carry forward my late wife’s work, I present our daughter, Helen, to continue the duties of the office. She will work closely with the Deputy Governor and the Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and Social Welfare,” The Punch quoted Eno.

While she was alive, Patience Eno carried out welfare activities in her position as the first lady of the state. But this is despite the fact that no provision of the Nigerian constitution provides for the position.

Despite being unconstitutional, the first lady trend is noticeable across Nigerian states and the office of the first lady of Nigeria currently held by Remi Tinubu is the federal equivalent.

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EQ had earlier reported that Remi Tinubu received N700 million from the State House in five months for foreign trips alone.

In March, Business Day reported that Patience gave N500,000 each to 600 elderly people on behalf of the state government through her Golden Initiative For All (GIFA) platform. She said that the state had been directed by Remi Tinubu to carry out the initiative.

First lady positions in various states of Nigerian have often been known to carry out special support programmes for women and children, a duty states’ and federal women affairs ministry cater for.

‘IT IS JUST AN ABUSE OF OFFICE AND A FUND-DIVERSION SCHEME’

EQ inquired from lawyers to know the position of the law on the office of the first lady.

Festus Ogun, a human rights lawyer, said that while the position was not backed by law, governors had the legal power to appoint persons to carry out executive functions. He, however, said that they mostly intentionally reserve some executive functions for their wives.

“What they usually do is to leave out the functions of the executive arm of government. They just apportion those functions to be carried out by the office of the first lady. But no law created that office,” Ogun told EQ.

“If there is no law, then the whole appointment of a daughter holding the fort for the demised mother is all a charade.”

Ogun also said that while creating such an office is not a crime according to the constitution, he deemed it to be an abuse of office.

For Inibehe Effiong, another human rights lawyer whom EQ contacted, he agreed with Ogun that the law does not have a spelt out punishment for such act. He also believes Eno’s action to be an abuse of his position.

“I have always been of the view that the office of the first lady in Nigeria is one of those needless creations that are meant to divert public resources,” Effiong said.

“I’m trying to be circumspect in my comment because they (Eno’s family) are grieving, but I think the governor is misguided in his pronouncement.

“Someone can argue that there is the office of the first lady in the US and other countries, but the way it functions in those countries is different from the way it functions here. Here, it is more from the point of view of abuse.”

Effiong said that such an unconstitutional office could be described as an “aberration”.
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