President should not be pressured to resign over ill-health, says Idigbe

The Chairman, Legal Profession Regulation Review Committee and senior Partner, Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN) has advised Nigerians to allow President Muhammadu Buhari to decide whether he will resign on account of ill health or not.

Idigbe said it is a personal decision, which is up to the president to decide. “In the Catholic church, we have had a similar experience, where a Pope on his volition felt it was in the best interest of the church to resign. So, it’s a very personal decision. It’s not what anyone should pressure or stampede him into doing.

“In any event, the fact that someone has some medical challenges doesn’t mean the person can’t work. There are lots of facilities nowadays. So the decision to resign is very personal. Nigerians should give him that privacy and allow him to consider his situation,” he said.

The lawyer made the remark shortly after he was inducted into the Third Degree of the order of the Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) with his wife Elizabeth as Lady of St. Mulumba.

The event took place at the Catholic Church of the Transfiguration in Victoria Garden City, Lekki, Lagos.

The SAN said: “I’m quite elated at the honour of being invested with the Third Degree of the Knight of St Mulumba (KSM). It’s a much higher spiritual responsibility in terms of the objectives of the KSM, which is to defend the catholic faith, propagate the religion and to do charity. I love the charity aspect”.

On the criteria for choosing the knights, Idigbe said: “It’s a combination of participation in the activities of the order and you have to do an examination.”

Lagos Metropolitan Grand Knight, Dr Charles Mbelede, said those admitted into the third degree category the church’s honoured order were examined and found worthy.

On the significance of the knighthood, he said: “A Knight of St Mulumba is a practicing Catholic with reasonable education and financial resources who is willing to volunteer his talent and energies for the service of God, the church and fellow men .

“He aspires towards a high sense of Christian discipline and cooperates with other Christian denominations without compromising Catholic doctrines and principles. He lives an exemplary Catholic life making use of the Sacraments to grow in the Grace of God.

“He defends the Catholic faith and gives succor to the disadvantaged, the poor and the oppressed in the society. The Ladies of St Mulumba are the wives of Knights of St Mulumba.