A friend called to ask this question '' WHAT IF AANDOAKAA OR ONE OF YARADUAS KITCHEN CABINET MEMBERS DECIDES TO CHALLENGE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLYs VOTE MAKING GOODLUCK ACTING PRESIDENT AT THE LAW COURT? Cos my friend claims Nass action is an act of illegality dat may further creates a logjam and chaos! Are we at crossroads or jinxed as a nation?

You are correct, I am having this funny feelings about the whole episode, we should exercise caution while celebrating this whole drama, I suspect that its another script being played on Nigerians by PDP just to douse the tention and also to stop FEC from deliberating on Dora's memo and Yaradua from being impeached because 87 out of 104 senators where about commencing impeachment preceding, just to buy time and fool us again that's what I am suspecting.

Timehin:

A friend called to ask this question '' WHAT IF AANDOAKAA OR ONE OF YARADUAS KITCHEN CABINET MEMBERS DECIDES TO CHALLENGE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLYs VOTE MAKING GOODLUCK ACTING PRESIDENT AT THE LAW COURT? Cos my friend claims Nass action is an act of illegality dat may further creates a logjam and chaos! Are we at crossroads or jinxed as a nation?

The NASS should immediately impeach Yar Adua !!! Simple !!! They have acted too leniently with Yar Adua so far. Our President  , guided by the sheer desperation of the cabal around him , inadvertently fu*ked himself up permanently !!! By admitting to the entire world on BBC radio  that he is unwell and recieving treatment, Yar Adua has foolishly made public his total disrespect for the Nigerian constitution - an undoubted  impeachable offence  !!!!

Even as Yar Adua understood that he is recieving medical treatment he cannot predict the outcome of , he still chose , for over 70 days, not to hand over to the Vice President of Nigeria !!!! How selfish and ill-informed does our President now appear  considering that leaders worldwide hand over officially even when they will be recieving routine medical treatment that will last only 30 minutes ? 78 days and counting ? Trust me , Aondoakaa and Yar Adua's kitchen cabinet will not be "challenging anything" . If anything they should lay extremely low and hope they are not punished ruthlessly for their treasonous acts against Nigeria and Nigerians - forged Presidential signature and all !!!!!  In fact , we are seeing everyone fall at the feet of Jonathan because it is acutely obvious that Yar Adua is finished !!!!

His 'crew' should behave themselves and their comatose figurehead may just escape impeachment.  It is now a case of "The king is dead" (Yar Adua). "long live the King" (Jonathan)!!!

Is it a legality for a President to be absent from his country for over 70 days without proper explanation to the NASS as required by the Constitution? Is it proper for a whole country to be existing like sheep without a shepherd for this long? Aondoakaa is too engrossed in political manoeuvres that he has ignored the Constitution which he was supposed to defend. Can I call him a puppet of the highest order ?

On what basis? That there was no 'written' hand-over Please that has been overtaken by events. There's no justification for Yar Adua not to write if he can. If they start contesting that, then people will start requesting to SEE the president, which I'm sure is impossible cos he's either dead or in coma!

Ujujoan:

On what basis? That there was no 'written' hand-over Please that has been overtaken by events. There's no justification for Yar Adua not to write if he can. If they start contesting that, then people will start requesting to SEE the president, which I'm sure is impossible cos he's either dead or in coma!

Indeed. If he could 'sign' the supplementary budget why on earth did he not simultaneously provide written authority for Jonathan to take over when that is the only constitutinal option open to Yar Adua? Yar Adua's crew should make noise if they dare. They will only be condemning themselves into political wilderness. The NASS could have impeachd Ya Adua easily. Personally, I think they sparred Yar Adua so as not to tarnish our international image further. With all what we are going through, this would be the wrong time to focus more negative attention on Nigeria. If Yardy's crew will not behave , given how their comatose deity has been provided with a soft landing he does not deserve,  then the NASS will have to do what it should have done in the first place.

Gbawe is right. I doubt they would be so stu.pid to dare. If they sued, it would raise the issue of whose signature was on the appropriations bill purportedly signed by Yar’ Adua, as there is strong conjecture that the signature was a forgery.

Constitutionally (I am no expert on the Nigerian constitution), the senate was on solid ground in their action. No constitution in this world can anticipate and provide for every scenario. Therefore, the Nigerian senate acted on the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter of the law. In this instance, the president had been AWOL for so long. And since the Nigerian constitution provided for the vice president to assume power as acting president if the president was temporarily unable to discharge his duties, the senate acted in good faith and "declared" the president temporarily incapacitated. It then passed a resolution asking the vice president to assume power until the president returned.

The resolution worked because there is already statute in place to make it binding on the vice president to assume power as acting president (sec 145 of the Nigerian Constitution). Indeed, it is in instances such as this that the constitution vested in the legislature the power to make laws.

I doubt they will even win in court.

Femi Falana first sold the idea of 'Doctrine of Necessity' to the Nation. And the NASS simply bought the idea.

Believe it or not, the resolution to empower Jonathan as Acting President while extra-constitutional will stand the test of the courts.

Its up to Jonathan to now stabilise the ship by using his executive powers and the new security briefs available to him to ascertain the true state of health of Yar'adua.

Former house of reps member Farouk Adamu filed a suit at d federal high court challenging NASS vote making Goodluck jonathan acting president. Hope this will not generate another round of crisis

They will lose the same way the Supreme Court has consistently refused to annul presidential elections in Naija even when there were proven cases of irregularity. The Supreme Court is illegal, cos the CJ was sworn in by the outgoing CJ instead of the president.

Chain of illegalities: Yaradua (the chief proponent of rule of law) went AWOL without handingover to his vice > Yaradua signature on supplementary budget forged? > CJ swore in another CJ > NASSs vote made Jonathan acting president without upholding the constitution > NASS DRAGGED TO COURT. Why should we continue to rubbish our constitution for d sake of sentiments? The appropriate sections of the constitution ought to be upheld but in the light of unfolding events is it possible?

Another drama will ensue.We are used it it.

For the sake of democracy and the principles of rule of law, the constitutionality of the action of NASS to elevate Jonathan to the position of Acting President should be challenged in the court of law.