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JONATHAN BEWARE
By Louis Brown Ogbeifun | December 24, 2009
The Nigerian President, Umaru Yar’Adua has been out of the country now for more than three weeks without a proper handing over to his Vice. This has created a leadership vacuum in our polity. This vacuum is taking a more complex dimension by the day. The act of governance has turned to “siddon look. The circumstances surrounding his exit from the country are shrewd in secrecy. This ought not to be so.
Due to Mr. President’s absence, the critical functions of the Presidency have been put in abeyance till God Knows when. One of such is the signing of the 2009 Supplementary Appropriation Bill into law. The Bill contains most of the instruments needed to give bite to the Amnesty programme of the President. Time is running out on this for the following reasons:
- The States are not in a position to sustain the Amnesty programme because of the cost implications
- Mend has promised to resume full scale hostilities with a 30 day ultimatum beginning from December 19th because of unmet expectations.
- The promised escalation of sabotaging oil installations by MEND may further worsen the state of the economy.
- The creek may soon turn into a war zone, which the President has tried frantically to reverse.
It was on this basis I canvassed the transmission of a message to the National assembly that he is not available for duties in conformity with section 145 of Nigerian Constitution, which states “Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions shall be discharged by the President as Acting President”.
The reasons why this should be are that:
- It will allow the Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan to Act on behalf of the President until he is well enough to transmit another message to the National Assembly that he is back to his beat.
- It will allow the business of running the country go on unhindered.
- It will allow President Yar’Adua time to take care of his health, fully recover before assuming duties and to prevent a relapse that may warrant him going back to Saudi Arabia soon after.
- It will give credibility to our democratic experiment.
Reports have credited certain statements to the Chief Law officer of the Federation, Aondoakaa, which if true are sending wrong signals about Mr. President’s health. This is why I am asking “What is happening to my President?”
The statements are:
- That the President can rule from any part of the world.
- That section 5 of the Constitution empowers the President to delegate authourities to any of his Ministers,
- That the Vice President can go ahead and sign the Supplementary Budget into Law without any transmitted message to the National Assembly based o,
IMPLICATIONS OF AONDOAKAA’S STATEMENTS (IF TRUE)
- That the National Assembly is a mere decorative and figurative organ of government.
- The office of Attorney General can overrule the Nigerian constitution at the whim of his office through a memo
- That the President’s condition is grave and unable to sign any document.
- That the ruling political party has other motives outside national interest.
Statements 1 and 2 are true to the extent that the President is directly delegating the authourities. In this e-world, Mr. President can be in China and transmit a message to his officers to perform some functions on his behalf. He can be in Aso Rock and direct any of his ministers to represent him at a function either locally or internationally.
From my knowledge of the Civil Service, such delegated duties are in writing through an official memo or minutes to the officer(s) concerned. In both cases Mr. President is the one directly communicating the delegation of authourity.
The scenario in our present situation is different. The man is not in the best of health. He is not in a position to give the instructions. Words have it that he is not talking to anyone yet because his doctors want him to fully recuperate before commencing state duties. We are talking of taking decisions in line with the constitutional provisions of the Constitution and not a mere representation of the President at dinner parties.
The panacea to the grid lock is for People’s Democratic Party, the Chief Law officer and all well meaning Nigerians to prevail on Mr. President to comply with Section 145 of our Constitution. Except he is in coma, please; let him do the written declaration NOW and transmit same to the relevant bodies. A trip to Saudi Arabia for this purpose will save us from the uncertainties the statements have generated.
On the third statement, I do not believe Aondoakaa will dare write such a letter to the Vice President. This will be taking the part of dishonour and should never be contemplated. The end effect will be very disastrous and suicidal for Vice President Goodluck Jonathan who would have been led to the political hang man’s noose. As soon as he appends his signature to the Supplementary Bill without a formal message from President Yar’Adua to the National Assembly and Jonathan pronounced the Acting President by an Act of Parliament, he should be ready to return to Bayelsa State. If not, he will be impeached because such political sins are unforgiveable. So, Jonathan beware!!!
Once again Mr. President, may the good Lord grant you perfect healing mercies.
Topics: Uncategorized |
December 24th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
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December 27th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Hopefully, the remaining entries will be as much fun
December 28th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
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December 29th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
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