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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Senate Moves To Back Governors On yar’adua (682 Views)
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Senate Moves To Back Governors On yar’adua by Nobody: 7:04am On Feb 07, 2010 |
There were indications last night that the Senate leadership may have agreed to consider a motion making Vice President Goodluck Jonathan acting president to move the nation forward. If such a resolution is adopted and passed, it would imply the Senate could receive bills from the Vice President and that the Vice President could make presidential appointments. The Senate’s position is a fallout of a consensus reached by governors on the platform of the Nigerian Governors Forum which had in the early hours of Friday called on the National Assembly to pass a resolution that would enable Vice President Jonathan assume office as the acting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In a meeting attended by thirty one governors, and which produced a communiqué read by the chairman of the Forum, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the governors said: “The forum resolved to meet the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to urging them to pass a resolution to formally recognise the Vice President as the Acting President in the interest of the nation.” The meeting which started by 8pm, Thursday night, came to a close at about 12.45 am on Friday morning. It had only two items on the agenda; the state of the nation, especially in relation to the continued absence of President Yar'Adua who is currently receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia and the recent Jos crisis. According to the communiqué, “the Forum calls on all arms of government to continue to give full and total support to the Acting President until the President returns in the interest of our dear and beloved country Nigeria.” The Kwara State Governor also noted that the governors “appreciate the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) in relation to the office of the President and Vice President. The Forum also identified with the judgements of the courts on the same and agrees that the position of acting (president) could either be verbal or written and the Vice President has been appropriately acting admirably.” The Senate’s decision is in spite of spirited moves by chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, to dissuade senators from taking further action on the January 27 resolution by the Upper House. The upper legislative chamber had urged President Yar’Adua to formally notify the National Assembly of his medical vacation in line with Section 145 of the 1999 constitution. Ogbulafor’s plea was made Wednesday night during a closed door meeting the PDP’s National Working Committee held with the party’s caucus in the Senate at Senate President, David Mark’s official residence in Abuja. Also, the governors condemned the recent sectarian crisis in Jos, Plateau State and declared that the crisis was not religious, but ethnic and political. The meeting therefore called on all state governors as chief security officers of their respective states to take appropriate measures to forestall a reoccurrence of such crisis in their states. The governors resolved to set up a relief fund which will procure relief materials for distribution to victims and displaced persons in the state. The picture was however unclear at the House of Representatives where, THISDAY gathered, the members remained divided on the issue of the necessity of a vacation letter from the president to the National Assembly. The members had simply resolved to send a delegation to the Saudi Arabia hospital to ascertain the true state of affairs with regard to the president’s ailment. Thirty one governors some of whom include the following attended the meeting: Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun State); Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo); Gov Usman Dakingari (Kebbi); Gov Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Gov Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano); Gov Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Gov. Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Gov Ibrahim Shema (Katsina); Gov Aliyu Doma (Nasarawa). Others at the meeting include: Gov Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Gov. Segun Oni (Ekiti); Gov Godswill Akpabio (Akwa-Ibom); Gov Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Gov Ikedi Ohakim (Imo); Gov Martin Elechi (Ebonyi) and Gov Sullivan Chime (Enugu). Also, the leadership of the North-West Zone of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has endorsed the resolution of the Governors Forum seeking strict compliance with provisions of the 1999 Constitution to allow for the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to be declared Acting President, pending the return of President Umaru Yar’Adua from medical vacation. National Vice Chairman for North-West Zone, Dr. Danladi Sankara told THISDAY in Kano yesterday that the position taken by the Governors was a proactive measure to resolve the constitutional issues raised by the President’s absence from the country on medical ground. He said: “I agree with the Governors that the Vice President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has lived up to his constitutional duties in the absence of the President, pointing out that there was no time a vacuum existed in the presidency on the account of Yar’Adua’s absence. Sankara stressed: “We firmly endorse the position of the 36 State Governors and that of the 19 Northern Governors which resolved on the need for adherence to the provisions of the Constitution to declare Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President pending the full recovery of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. “The position taken by the Governors was a validation of the earlier position of our eminent leaders such as former President Shehu Shagari, General Yakubu Gowon and other prominent Nigerians who called for restraint and strict adherence to the provisions of the Constitution. It is a very simple issue that was over-politicised”. The PDP Zonal Chairman emphasised. He pointed out that the Vice President has proved a responsible and trustworthy leader having performed creditably to ensure continuity in governance even without Yar’adua. “The Vice President has been a trustworthy and responsible leader who refused to be distracted by focusing on his duties that ensured continuity. The PDP has given him full backing. “I have always made a strong case for us as a people to take lesson from the personal disposition of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua which is tilted towards the promotion of the rule of law.” http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=165903 |
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