Despite the National Assembly’s resolution that made Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan an Acting President last Tuesday, pressure has continued to mount on the Federal Executive Council to invoke Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution.
The conference of Nigeria Political Parties, the Save Nigeria Group and a former Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Alhaji Farouk Adamu on Sunday said the activation of section 144 of the constitution was the only acceptable intervention that could provide a lasting solution to the current constitutional crisis.
The section states that ‘The President (or Vice-President) shall cease to hold office if by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the Executive Council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the function of this office.’
The CNPP said it was necessary for the ministers to address the deficiency in the resolution by activating the said provision of the constitution, as the legislature only relied on a British Broadcasting Corporation’s interview to justify its action.
The CNPP’s position was made known by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu in Abuja.
Similarly, Adamu has advised pro-Jonathan governors to put pressure on ministers to comply with section 144.
He explained that it was imperative for the Council to determine whether President Umaru Yar’Adua was incapacitated or not, stressing that the manner in which Jonathan emerged as Acting President was alien to the country’s constitution.
The former House of Representatives leader said he went to court to seek compliance with section 145 because of the anomaly.
The section demands the transmission of a letter from the President to the National Assembly whenever he is on vacation or on medical leave.
Adamu, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, said that if section 145 could not be achieved, the federal cabinet must discharge the responsibility imposed on it by invoking section 144.
The Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, had penultimate Wednesday presented a memo to the Council in this regard, which sharply divided the body, but was subsequently withdrawn following the National Assembly’s resolution.
The CNPP said, “We believe that section 144 will cure the deficiency in the resolution by the National Assembly in which it relied on a BBC interview.
“A two-thirds resolution of the Federal Executive Council is needed to raise a medical panel that will afford Nigerians the opportunity to know the state of health of their President.
“Members of the House of Representatives that went to see him are back without seeing him, the governors went there and they never saw him; the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party travelled to Saudi Arabia and returned without seeing him.
“To the best of our knowledge, the Director-General of SSS, DG NIA, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, none has seen the President since he left the shores of Nigeria on November 23, 2009.
“Therefore, it becomes imperative that section 144 be invoked.”
According to Adamu, “The ministers should declare the President incapacitated by dealing with section 144; that is the only way Jonathan could become the Acting President.”
In a related development, the CNPP has warned former President Olusegun Obasanjo to stay away from Jonathan’s administration.
It said that Obasanjo could be a bad influence on the government, adding that it vehemently opposed his “nocturnal visit to Jonathan shortly after he became Acting President.”
The CNPP said that genuine electoral reforms, which Nigerians earnestly expected from Jonathan, might be jeopardised if Obasanjo was allowed to meddle in the running of the current government
The coalition, led by the Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, declared this in a statement by Okechukwu.
Though, the CNPP recognised Obasanjo’s right to associate freely in line with the constitution, it however, noted that the ex-President contributed to the current political logjam and the mess associated with the 2007 general election.
It said, “We are tempted to ask, what has Chief Obasanjo left in the State House, Aso Villa, after eight years of misrule that he wants to pick up now?
“CNPP is asking this question in the Obasanjo tradition, because barely 48 hours after the February 9, 2010 National Assembly controversial but common ground resolution, we sighted Obasanjo at the Aguda Lodge, Aso Villa, the official residence of the Acting President.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Obasanjo’s nocturnal visit is neither in the interest of the nation nor in the interest of the Acting President; consequently, we strongly plead with him to stay away. He cannot recover the Third Term; it is gone forever.
“CNPP is worried that Obasanjo, if allowed to meddle in the Jonathan presidency, might halt genuine electoral reform, Niger Delta post-amnesty programme and revamping of infrastructure that collapsed under his watch.”
Also, the Save Nigeria Group has rejected last Tuesday’s resolution of the National Assembly pronouncing Jonathan as the Acting President.
It said the acceptance of the questionable BBC interview as a substitute for Yar’Adua’s vacation letter amounted to “rigging and a manipulation of Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.”
Besides, the SNG noted at its review meeting which had in attendance the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and other prominent members of the group, that its protest marches in Abuja, Lagos, London and New York were for the restoration of the citizens’ dignity through a constitutional resolution and not any pronouncement of Jonathan as ‘Acting President.’
In a statement on Sunday by Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly, Mr. Solomon Asemota, SAN, Lt.-Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd), Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Mr. Uche Onyeogocha and Mallam Salihu Lukman, the group maintained that while it wanted Jonathan to assume full responsibility, it rejected the extra-invocation of the ‘doctrine of necessity’ which was ‘a dangerous precedent that could become handy to execute an unpopular agenda against the people in the future.’
It also called for the commencement of a proper constitutional process of installing Jonathan as President with a vice-president, urging FEC to pass a resolution declaring Yar’Adua incapacitated in compliance with Section 144 of the constitution.
The group also demanded the prosecution of those involved in the alleged forging of the President’s signature on the supplementary budget.
SOURCE: punchng.com
What is happening to president Yar Adua is a message to other from Allah he better what we do not know i therfore huge other to fear God and be sincere to the people and nation for the best interset of the country
Nigeria should be ashamed for one day and act right. this country is doing unthinkable . how do people in goverment continue to bring shame and bring us down both at home and internationally. ? . we need a Rawling in this country . a whole president of a nation in hiding for almost 4months now? .what have you for the whole world and all Nigerians? , what is you excuse to all of us living abroad.? it is a shame becos all you are cowards and thievies .declare him null , void and dead . we all here are tired of your non-sense. . it is a shame but remember God knows how to punish you ,becos non of you will go without been punished.example of that is Umar Farouk Mutallab. i am sorry for all your children , they will suffer and usless . they can go to London, be in America where i am , they will end up like shameful Umar FAROUK Abdul Mutallab who with all the money stolen by his father at our central bank to raise him in London , bought him a nice house ended up to be a terriost and brought shame to his family and the country as whole .God is showing you how all of your children and children children will be . Declare your stupid good for nothing president non-exsistence. bye
what is your excuse ? tell me what you think ? i am a son to a Nigerian woman , you bring shame to me and other children like and our mums because my American friends are laughing at us with all these bad news from that country. . common do something . you can do it . send this man a post card and fire him. you cannot put the whole country on hold because of a man? , ridiclous as it is .
Romeo
its obvious, the true is bitter they say, but it must be spoken. enough is enough! there re a lot of speculations about the health of our dear president. if fec cant stand to their feet and tell nigerians the truth, i ve no choice than to declare them incapacitated. frankly speaking, God is totally involve in nigeria case and definitely, she ill scale through.