THE PRESIDENT OF NMA, DR FADUYILE, CAN REMAIN IN OFFICE UNTIL 2022.

The tenure of the President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) ended on 2nd May 2020 after "an inconclusive election". The election was inconclusive, not just because there was no election as scheduled; the election having been, as a matter of fact, postponed by the President himself, because of the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown. Unopposed candidates are deemed elected by virtue of the provisions of the Association Constitution. The election was inconclusive therefore because prior to the postponement of the election, a few contestants were declared unopposed and thus deemed elected without further assurance other than a return at the Annual Delegates Meeting (ADM) of the Association. This scenario therefore produced some winners even before the postponement and the elections, on the strength of the clear provisions of the Constitution of the Association which made postponement inconsequential to the validity of the election of unopposed candidates.

The President of the Association, whose tenure constitutionally ended on the 2nd May 2020, has not handed over power to those deemed elected at the close of 2nd May 2020. In fact, the President is still fully in charge of the Association "as if" his tenure has not ended. According to Article 12(1)(a)(ii) of the NMA Constitution: "The term of office for all National Officers shall be for two years which shall be non-renewable". This two year tenure ended on 2nd May 2020. It is now notorious that this provision has generated a lot of confusion and controversy in the NMA since 2nd May 2020.

The real question is whether the continued stay in office by Dr Faduyile as the President of the Nigerian Medical Association as he has just insisted upon, is intra vires his association constitutional provisional rights. In other words, could Mr Faduyile legally perpetuate himself in office given the present COVID 19 pandemic situation of Nigeria and the whole world. The answer is in the affirmative as shall be expounded anon.

In fact, it has been postulated at different fora, that the man Faduyile could still remain in that office until the year 2022 as made possible by the archaic and repressive Constitution of the NMA. It must be noted that the problem is not entirely that of the ambitions and aspirations of Mr President. The problem is squarely on the Constitution of the Association as presently written and applied.

The NMA is all about the President. In fact, every other member of the association is reduced to a mere adviser of the NMA President whose advice could be accepted or jettisoned by Mr President, as could be decifered from the clear provisions of the Constitution of NMA. According to Article 12(1)(h)(i) ".......  The President shall act as deemed necessary on behalf of the Association, in between meetings of the NEC but shall report to the Council for ratification at the next meeting of NEC. He shall consult regularly with the other officers on such issues......." Article 12(2)(a) goes on to say: "(ii) The National Officers Committee shall advise the President in the exercise of his duties as stated in 12(1)(h) (i). (iii). Without prejudice to Article 12(1)(h) (i), the National Officers Committee shall act on behalf of NEC and the Nigerian Medical Association in between meetings of the NEC."

The import of these provisions is that the President of NMA is the NMA in-between meetings of the Association. Articles 7, 9, 11, 14 and 15 will therefore only feed into the whims and caprices of the President.

These obvious powers of the President are even reinforced by the provisions of the NMA Constitution that allows ONLY the President to summon each type of meetings of the association, including the meeting of the Committee of Past Presidents that is mooted to take over government from Faduyile. Only the President can summon meetings of the Association when he feels that it is necessary. Mr President is empowered to act as he deemed necessary as seen in Article 12(1)(h)(i) supra. That means that Mr President's opinion is the opinion of the Association. His desires and cravings become the desires and cravings of the Association. The President is thus the haemoglobin and the cardia of the NMA.

Curiously, Article 11(5)(b) empowered the Association to postpone elections thus: "5(b). Any postponement of the AGC and/or ADM after the closing date shall not invalidate these nominations and the closing date as set out in the first notice or/and announcement unless otherwise determined by the ADM". This provision for the power of postponement did not define the persons with disposal action and the circumstances when postponement is permitted considering the mandatory two-year tenure provided for in the Constitution. Now, if the President is empowered to act for the NOC, NEC and ADM in-between meetings "as he deems necessary" as already properly cited from the NMA Constitution, it then means that Mr President is empowered to postpone the NMA elections particularly at this COVID 19 pandemic lockdown era if the President does not consider online meetings as "necessary".

Furthermore, to make matters worse for the progressive members of the Association, the constitutional provisions on the mode of elections of the Association, did a lot of damage and yanked off the mandatory two-year tenure limit of the NEC and the National Officers of the Association and donated it on a platter of gold to the President (who is the only person to bring his tenure and that of the NEC to an end) to manipulate "as he deems necessary".

According to Article Article 11: "1(a). Election of National Officers shall hold once every two years. 2. Notice shall be given by the Secretary General of the Association for nominations to all National Offices at least 12 weeks before the date fixed for the Annual General Conference counted from the date of dispatch ..... 5(b). Any postponement of the AGC and/or ADM after the closing date shall not invalidate these nominations and the closing date as set out in the first notice or/and announcement unless otherwise determined by the ADM ...... 11. Before the commencement of the election, the ADM shall appoint a Returning Officer whose duty it shall be to conduct the election as laid down by the Constitution of the Association. The appointment shall be by nomination and if required, voting shall be as in 10(1). 12. The President shall, following the appointment of the Returning Officer, immediately dissolve the National Executive Council. 13. Every election officer shall hold office immediately after the conclusion of the election in the year of his election until the dissolution of the NEC at the next ADM of an election year .... 15. If for whatever reason, election of officers becomes inconclusive, the Returning Officer shall immediately summon a Committee of Past Presidents who shall elect from among themselves at least three members to run the affairs of the Association for three months within which another election shall be conducted. The Committee so constituted shall select from among themselves a Chairman provided it shall not be the immediate Past President. The Committee shall call for fresh nominations except for offices for which candidates have been returned unopposed".

The above provisions simply mean that the NEC lives on until Mr President kills it. It also means that Mr President hands over to the Presiding Officer who shall return the new Officers as elected. The final straw is that only the Presiding Officer can hand over inconclusive elections to the Committee of Past Presidents who would commence nominations afresh. The present situation can be argued on both fronts that there was no election and that the election was inconclusive. Either way, Mr President's opinion remains the Association opinion as his opinion has been validated and enshrined by the provisions of the Constitution as that of the Association's. The power of interpretation of the same Constitution has also been awarded to the President of the Association in the Constitution.

It is clear that any member of the Association who is aggrieved as to the actions and inactions of the NMA President has three options to follow. First, he can flow with the opinion of Mr President as being the ultimate position of the Association. Secondly, he could patiently wait for Mr President to convene a meeting of the NOC, NEC, ADM or EDM to vent his anger. The President of course has the discretion to hold online meetings or just wait until the Federal Government drops the lockdown to NMA President's satisfaction. The last option is Court. Article Article 24 of the association Constitution stated: "8(c). A member or group or branch shall be free to go to court if the President-in-Council agrees with him or it that he has fulfilled the provision of 24(8)(a) or where there is incontrovertible evidence that his or its letter was received by the President-in-Council and no decision was taken on his request after six months of the receipt of the letter".

The NMA President whom the NMA Constitution mandated to dissolve his NEC after a non-renewable term of two years only, is liable to be sued upon his failure to abide that provisions in reasonable circumstances, given the bare powers of postponement contained in that Constitution. It has been postulated that COVID 19 pandemic will hold the world hostage up to 2022. The NMA President could as well remain in office till after the viral hostage. Alternatively, the aggrieved member(s) or Branch could give a 6 month notice to the Association, and commence the Court action in December 2020. The suing capacities and positions of the Incorporated Trustees of the NMA who are not on the apron strings of Mr President are woolly. The Incorporated Trustees of the NMA cannot successfully sue a sitting President even if the Incorporated Trustees wanted to, because the President is the NMA.

And who knows!!! The Court may actually resolve such the suit by early 2022 at the latest. Or maybe, just maybe, Faduyile could just do the needful and hand over reign, "if he considers it necessary."

Mr Awkadigwe Fredrick Ikenna (MBBS NIG, LLB NIG, MWACS, DSC)
08039555380
awkadigweikenna@gmail.com