Brooms. Chickens. Umbrellas. We know the symbols. We know the arguments every election season. But beneath the politics and party colours lies a question far more important: what does the office of the President actually allow one person to do?

The President: What the Law Actually Gives Him

Ask ten Nigerians what the president can do and you may get ten different answers. Some will tell you he can do anything he wants.

Others will tell you he cannot be touched, at least not now, not ever, no matter what he does while in office. A few will insist he can dissolve the National Assembly (the country's legislature responsible for overseeing government actions, creating laws, and representing the people) if it becomes too troublesome.

Though none of them will point you to where they found this or arrived at that conclusion.

But it sits quietly in the Constitution, in sections some people have never opened, and it is far more interesting than the rumour.

Who the office actually belongs to

Section 130 establishes the office plainly: >There shall be for the Federation a President, and he is described as the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation, and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

That is three roles compressed into one person: ceremonial head, administrative head, and military head.

Apparently a lot of responsibility, so it is expected that the role be given to someone capable of handling it effectively.

To hold that office, section 131 requires a person to be a citizen of Nigeria by birth, at least thirty five years old, sponsored by a political party, and educated to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.

Notice what is missing from that list. There is no requirement of a particular ethnicity, religion, or region written anywhere in it. The qualification bar is set by law, not by the whispers that circulate every election season about whose "turn" it is by unwritten rotation. It doesn't work that way.

What he can actually do

Executive power, under section 5, is vested in the president and may be exercised by him directly or through the Vice President, Ministers, or officers in the public service. In plain terms, he runs the machinery of government, from national security to the execution of laws passed by the National Assembly.

He appoints Ministers, but read section 147 closely. Every ministerial nomination must first be confirmed by the Senate before it becomes an appointment, and the nominee must have declared assets and liabilities. The president also assents to bills before they become law, under section 58, and he can withhold that assent. But that is not the final word either.

In late 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua left the country for medical treatment. This threw the country into some chaos. Constitutional crisis, goverment matters slowed, and even uncertainty amongst the citizens.

Eventually, the National Assembly invoked what became known as the Doctrine of Necessity, recognizing Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President until Yar'Adua could return. It was an extraordinary political solution to an extraordinary constitutional problem. The Constitution assumes that government must continue to function, and when that assumption was tested, Nigerians were forced to confront the document more closely than they had in years

What he cannot do

If the president refuses to sign a bill, the National Assembly can pass it again, this time by a two-thirds majority in each house (House of Representatives), and section 58(5) says the bill becomes law without him. The legislature still has its independence in these situations.

He also cannot serve forever. Section 137(1)(b) disqualifies anyone who has already been elected to the office at two previous elections. Whatever conversation resurfaces every so often about extending a term or seeking a third one, the Constitution already closed that door before the argument began.

He can even be removed while still alive and still sitting in the office. Although this hardly happens. But the constitution makes provisions for that.

Section 143 lays out a full process: >an allegation signed by a third of the National Assembly, an investigation panel of seven people of unquestionable integrity appointed by the Chief Justice, and a two-thirds vote in each House to adopt that panel's findings. It has never been easy to trigger, but it exists, in writing, as a check on a sitting president.

Now, about that untouchable idea

Here's the idea: the president can never be prosecuted for anything, and immunity means a clean permanent shield against the law.

Read section 308 for yourself. It says no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted against a person to whom the section applies "during his period of office." Notice that word. During. Not forever. The protection is tied to the chair, not to the man sitting in it.

Subsection 2 narrows it further still. The shield does not apply to civil proceedings brought against him in his official capacity, and it does not apply where he is only a nominal party to a case. Subsection 3 then spells out exactly who it covers: the president, the vice president, a governor, or a deputy governor, and nobody beyond them.

The point of reading it yourself

None of this defends anyone, past or present. It is simply what the Constitution says, plainly, in sections you can open and read in the time it takes to scroll through one more thread online. The president is powerful, yes, but every one of those powers sits inside a boundary someone wrote down on purpose.

It's a good time to open the Nigerian Constitution and skim through it.