An attempt by the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, to ask the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) to demand a vacation letter from President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was shouted down yesterday, THISDAY has learnt.
The President travelled to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment in November last year without transferring authority to the Vice-President, a situation that has led to power vacuum and is threatening governance in the country.

Many ministers told THISDAY yesterday that Akunyili passed a memo round EXCOF members in which she asked the council to discuss Yar’Adua’s prolonged absence and seek the possibility of allowing Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to step in as Acting President until the President returns from Saudi Arabia.
“The Yar’Adua loyalists shouted her down and told her the memo should have been circulated before yesterday’s meeting if she wanted it discussed,” one source told THISDAY. “Some ministers, who could not speak openly, murmured that the Farouk AbdulMutallab memo was discussed and acted upon the same day it was presented to council, so why should Yar’Adua’s case be different?”

The reaction of the pro-Yar’Adua ministers might have further created division in the cabinet which has been widely criticised for declaring the President fit to rule even when it is not in a position to do so.
THISDAY was unable to get a copy of Akunyili’s memo yesterday because she was ordered to withdraw all copies from the ministers.
“She was told that if the memo leaked to the press, she would be held responsible for it,” another source – a minister from the North – told THISDAY.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Yayale, was said to have personally gone round to withdraw the memo, which had been served on the 42 ministers present.
In the memo, she was said to have restated her loyalty to the President but raised concerns about how his absence had stalled government business and led to some unconstitutional actions.

“She said we should remember that permanent secretaries have been waiting to be sworn in for two months, meaning some ministries don’t even have permanent secretaries now. She also reminded council that the VP has no constitutional power to take any bill to the National Assembly. She said even though the VP deployed troops to quell Jos riots, many Nigerians said it was unconstitutional,” the source said.

Akunyili was also said to have reminded the council that the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) had opted out of the amnesty programme because of the President’s absence from the country.
The renewed threat is a danger to the country’s economy, the memo reportedly emphasised.
Another minister told THISDAY that Akunyili’s memo asked the council to act urgently as prominent and well-meaning Nigerians, former heads of state and senators had done by asking the President to send in a vacation letter to allow the Vice-President to act.



[b][/b]http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=165768

Dora should please resign to save herself from shame and disgrace.

This die guys are going to rubish her real bad. I wish somebody close to her will make her to see the handwriting on the wall. If she abandons wisdom and cling unto "power", when the power is taken away (sooner of later), she will have nothing to hold unto. For now, she can hold unto her dignity by resigning today.

To me, she has redeemed her reputation by this very gutsy and honest move.
Resigning to me is akin to 'chickening out'. They would immediately replace her position with one of theirs and the rest of us will lose one more in-house fighter. We need more honest people like her in there than out here.

resign? never. if she do that the hawks are winning. she should remain there and slog it out by getting more disciples

jimmysho:

resign? never. if she do that the hawks are winning. she should remain there and slog it out by getting more disciples

opokonwa:

To me, she has redeemed her reputation by this very gutsy and honest move.
Resigning to me is akin to 'chickening out'. They would immediately replace her position with one of theirs and the rest of us will lose one more in-house fighter. We need more honest people like her in there than out here.

Depends on what you are looking at: Folks, our problem as Nation is not about Yar'adua stepping down or Jonathan stepping up, it is the obvious fact that nothing good will come out of this dead horse called Nigeria. Except we restructure now, Nigeria has no future, and people like Dora are actually wasting their time trying to drive a dead horse.

Our laws do not promote nation building and even the little of it that we have are not obeyed by those who should enforce them. There is too much power at the centre and we should press for devolution of that power.

Its not about Dora, Yar'adua or Jonathan, but Dora will save her dignity by resigning else they will rubbish her the more and also throw her out. I won't be suprised if the EFCC will start investigating her for making that call.

You guys should wake up, Nigeria is not a nation.