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withdrawn following the National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.
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