By Okoi Obono-Obla
Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has ignited fresh debate about his years in the Muhammadu Buhari administration with a striking claim: that he had already “technically resigned” long before his formal resignation in May 2022.
What Amaechi Said
Speaking on AIT on Wednesday night, while reflecting on his political career and his service under the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, Amaechi disclosed that his disillusionment with the administration led him to effectively withdraw from ministerial duties.
According to reports of the interview, Amaechi said he first challenged Buhari privately over unmet expectations:
“Mr President, you recall that when people were voting for us, they thought they were voting for the Buhari of 1983? Mr President, are we keeping to that expectation?”
He said Buhari responded that 1983 was not comparable, as he was then younger and running a military government without a parliament.
Unsatisfied, Amaechi said he returned the next day with a different request:
“The next day, I went back to Mr President and asked, ‘Can I go to the university?’ He said, ‘Yes.’”
He then explained the arrangement that followed:
“Then I applied. In the application, I said I wouldn’t be in the office Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, that’s technically resigning from the government. The only day I came to the office was Wednesdays.”
The former governor, who served as Minister of Transportation from November 2015 to May 2022, said this meant he was “practically gone” and described it as a technical resignation.
The claim comes as Amaechi, now the vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) alongside Atiku Abubakar for the 2027 election, campaigns against the APC administration in which he served.
Is There Anything Known to Law as ‘Technical Resignation’?
In short: No, not in Nigerian labour law, not in the Public Service Rules, and not under the Constitution for political appointees.
Under Nigerian employment law, resignation is deliberately simple and binary. Several judgments of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria and Section 11 of the Nigerian Labour Act recognize notice of resignation of employment.
Legal commentaries summarise it as a voluntary exit pathway: “tendering of resignation brings the employment relationship to an end, being a recognised exit pathway in employment relationships, and even acceptance of the resignation by the employer is not a pre-condition for validity.” The core tests are voluntariness and notice.
The only recognized variants are:
1. Constructive Dismissal: Also referred to as constructive discharge, it “occurs when an employee resigns because his/her employer’s behaviour has become intolerable or heinous or made life difficult that the employee has no choice but to resign. Given that the resignation was not truly voluntary, it is in effect a termination”.
2. Voluntary Resignation vs. Dismissal: Where an employer tries to treat a resignation as a dismissal to deny benefits.
There is no intermediate status where an employee remains in employment but attends only one day a week and is deemed to have resigned. In employment law, that is absenteeism or abandonment of duty.
Where the Phrase Comes From
The phrase “technical resignation” does exist, but not in the sense Amaechi used it. It is a creature of Indian Central Government service rules, occasionally referenced in Commonwealth administrative circulars.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of India stipulates that if an employee joins a service and then resigns to join another service for which he had applied before joining the first service, his resignation will be treated as technical resignation under three conditions:
1. He had intimated the authority immediately after joining the first service. 2. He had informed in his resignation letter that he wants to join another service. 3. The authority was in the opinion that if he had been in the service, his application would [have been] forwarded through proper channel.
Even there, the purpose is narrow: “When resignation is a ‘technical formality’… the benefit of past service may, if otherwise admissible under rules, be given for purposes of fixation of pay in the new post treating the resignation as a ‘technical formality’.”
It still requires a formal resignation letter, acceptance, and release. It is a device to preserve pension and pay continuity when moving between two government jobs, not a license to stay in post while absent.
Nigeria’s Public Service Rules do not codify “technical resignation” as a mode of exit. Resignation is resignation, with one month’s notice or as stipulated, and forfeiture of past service unless re-appointed under specific provisions.
For a Minister, the position is even clearer. A Minister holds office at the pleasure of the President under Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution. The only legally effective resignation is a formal letter to the President. Until that letter was submitted in May 2022 to contest the APC presidential primary, Amaechi remained, in law, the substantive Minister of Transportation.
Why the Conceptualization Fails
Amaechi’s account therefore conflates three distinct things:
Political disillusionment – his belief that the Buhari administration was not meeting the expectations of those who voted in 2015;
Physical withdrawal – his decision to enrol in university and limit his presence to Wednesdays;
Legal resignation – which did not occur until 2022.
In law, disillusionment does not amount to constructive dismissal for a political appointee, and limited attendance does not amount to resignation. If anything, remaining in office while not performing the full duties of the office would raise questions of ministerial responsibility, not create a new category of resignation.
Amaechi’s phrase “technically resigning” should therefore be understood as a political metaphor – a way of saying “I checked out mentally and practically” – rather than a description of any status known to labour law, public service law, or constitutional law in Nigeria.
It is an unknown conceptualization because the law knows only that you have resigned or you have not.
