January 28, 2010
Mischief, a major preoccupation of the human mind has been perfected by the word government in Nigeria and this manifest daily in the manner the government people play their self interests above our collective or rather national interests. Nigerians were hopeful and excited when Hon Farouk Adama former member of the House of Representative from Jigawa state went to court to force the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to perform its obligations as pertains a formal handover of power to the Vice President.
Mischief, a major preoccupation of the human mind has been perfected by the word government in Nigeria and this manifest daily in the manner the government people play their self interests above our collective or rather national interests. Nigerians were hopeful and excited when Hon Farouk Adama former member of the House of Representative from Jigawa state went to court to force the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to perform its obligations as pertains a formal handover of power to the Vice President.
Justice Dan Abutu, the Chief Judge of the Abuja High Court, in his ruling of Friday January 22, 2010 ordered the cabinet to in accordance with Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution, pass a resolution within 14 days on the President’s capability or otherwise to continue in office. The court asked the cabinet to use its “judgment.”
Though it’s not lawful to question the wisdom of court judgments, it was a clear irony that a High Court Judge who knows that the members of the FEC were hand-picked by the same President in question asked the cabinet members to make a decision on the President's capabilities or otherwise to rule. Can a servant tell his master that he is no longer the head of the house? We have to go to the moon to find such Nigerian cabinet ministers.
The court ruling could best be described as interesting. But more interesting was the excitement of the Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, on the court ruling. At the court premises, the elated AGF spoke in praise of the court’s decision as if there was a harmonization of position between him and the plaintiff. And this conspiracy picture became stronger when on Wednesday January 27, a group calling itself “The May 29th Group” in paid advertorials reminded Nigerians of what the constitution says concerning the removal of a serving President from office on grounds of incapability.
According to the May 29th Group, the Nigerian constitution prescribes a four-stage process to outright removal of the President or a forced handover in case of incapability.
First, FEC has to pass a resolution that the President is permanently incapable of discharging the functions in his office. That resolution must be supported by two-third majority of all the cabinet ministers and not two-third of those present on a particular day. This should be the first and the crucial stage which should then determine the necessity or otherwise of the three remaining stages.
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Interestingly, on the same day the May 29th Group placed their advertorials on major Nigerian newspapers, the Executive Council of the Federation in response to the directive of the Abuja High Court, met and came out with unanimous resolution that “only President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua could determine whether he is fit to remain in office.”
Also the Council resolved that Yar’Adua who has been in Saudi Arabia for over two months because of ill-health is “not incapable of discharging the functions of his office.”
It further argued that “the medical treatment undertaken outside the country by the President since November 23, 2009, does not constitute incapacity and therefore, he should not cease to hold office as specified by Section 144 and 146 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Aondoakaa who made the FEC resolution public at the end of the meeting said on the issue of the President’s transfer of power to the Vice President, “It is a pure discretional matter left to the President and it can only commence with the president writing the letter and it is a voluntary transfer of power, which neither of us, nobody has control over it except the President himself. The issue has also been a security matter because transfer of power has serious security implications, even in the US.”
Of course, what does anybody expect from a bunch of opportunists who know that the exit of the President may mean an end to their own privileged positions? Was it not interesting that FEC members none of whom has either seen or heard from their master for almost three months now should endorse that he is capable of running the country still.
The question Nigerians should ascertain is whether our President can by himself as he is now, even write any letter or sign a copy written by an aide. Apart from his wife and maybe the other three G-4 members, who else actually knows the exact state of health of the President- whether he can still talk, write or even order somebody to do it for him?
And even if he can manage to write or give directive, this Yar’adua we have seen in Saudi Arabia would be the last person to ever agree that he is incapable of continuing in office. Mark my word. The man is as power hungry as the hawks around him or even more. Even if the President returns today and still sick, he is not going to transfer power to anybody
It was an outright insult to the informed Nigerian public for the AGF to compare our current situation with the three occasions that power was transferred in the United States of America. Somebody should tell Aondoakaa that in all the American cases he cited, all the presidents involved were out of office just for few hours and not even days. Yar’adua has been out of office or more aptly, in self exile for over two months now, and we are not even sure of when he is coming back. We don’t even know his exact where about.
The AGF in real sense only indicted Yar’adua by citing several instances of American Presidents that acted wisely, to handover power - albeit for a few hours. But in our own case, the country has been without a President for two months now and his master never considered it necessary to handover power.
Is Aondoakaa not aware that in all of the American instances he mentioned, the affected Presidents of America were within the territory of America and yet deemed it fit to transmit a letter authorising their deputies to act as the President. From what is going on, it has become very obvious that some members of Yar’adua’s cabinet must have prevented the President from doing the right thing before he left for his treatment.
Another insult to the Nigerian public was the AGF’s saying that power handover has security implications. What does he mean by that? So Goodluck Jonathan cannot be trusted with security issues as it pertains to the Nigerian state? It all means that Aondoakaa and his likes in Yar’adua’s cabinet do not regard or rather accept the Vice President as a proper Nigerian despite the oath he took to defend the security and integrity of this nation. What a shame! So Vice President Jonathan has suddenly become a security? So how do you transfer power to somebody who has been branded a security risk or rather included in “persons of interest” list?
Does the AGF understand the true security implication of not having an executive president for over two months now? No! Maybe what he meant was the security of his job and those other members of FEC.
IFEANYI IZEZE, IS AN ABUJA-BASED CONSULTANT ON STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION ([email protected])
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Justice Dan Abutu, the Chief Judge of the Abuja High Court, in his ruling of Friday January 22, 2010 ordered the cabinet to in accordance with Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution, pass a resolution within 14 days on the President’s capability or otherwise to continue in office. The court asked the cabinet to use its “judgment.”
Though it’s not lawful to question the wisdom of court judgments, it was a clear irony that a High Court Judge who knows that the members of the FEC were hand-picked by the same President in question asked the cabinet members to make a decision on the President's capabilities or otherwise to rule. Can a servant tell his master that he is no longer the head of the house? We have to go to the moon to find such Nigerian cabinet ministers.
The court ruling could best be described as interesting. But more interesting was the excitement of the Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, on the court ruling. At the court premises, the elated AGF spoke in praise of the court’s decision as if there was a harmonization of position between him and the plaintiff. And this conspiracy picture became stronger when on Wednesday January 27, a group calling itself “The May 29th Group” in paid advertorials reminded Nigerians of what the constitution says concerning the removal of a serving President from office on grounds of incapability.
According to the May 29th Group, the Nigerian constitution prescribes a four-stage process to outright removal of the President or a forced handover in case of incapability.
First, FEC has to pass a resolution that the President is permanently incapable of discharging the functions in his office. That resolution must be supported by two-third majority of all the cabinet ministers and not two-third of those present on a particular day. This should be the first and the crucial stage which should then determine the necessity or otherwise of the three remaining stages.
articleadslinks
Interestingly, on the same day the May 29th Group placed their advertorials on major Nigerian newspapers, the Executive Council of the Federation in response to the directive of the Abuja High Court, met and came out with unanimous resolution that “only President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua could determine whether he is fit to remain in office.”
Also the Council resolved that Yar’Adua who has been in Saudi Arabia for over two months because of ill-health is “not incapable of discharging the functions of his office.”
It further argued that “the medical treatment undertaken outside the country by the President since November 23, 2009, does not constitute incapacity and therefore, he should not cease to hold office as specified by Section 144 and 146 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Aondoakaa who made the FEC resolution public at the end of the meeting said on the issue of the President’s transfer of power to the Vice President, “It is a pure discretional matter left to the President and it can only commence with the president writing the letter and it is a voluntary transfer of power, which neither of us, nobody has control over it except the President himself. The issue has also been a security matter because transfer of power has serious security implications, even in the US.”
Of course, what does anybody expect from a bunch of opportunists who know that the exit of the President may mean an end to their own privileged positions? Was it not interesting that FEC members none of whom has either seen or heard from their master for almost three months now should endorse that he is capable of running the country still.
The question Nigerians should ascertain is whether our President can by himself as he is now, even write any letter or sign a copy written by an aide. Apart from his wife and maybe the other three G-4 members, who else actually knows the exact state of health of the President- whether he can still talk, write or even order somebody to do it for him?
And even if he can manage to write or give directive, this Yar’adua we have seen in Saudi Arabia would be the last person to ever agree that he is incapable of continuing in office. Mark my word. The man is as power hungry as the hawks around him or even more. Even if the President returns today and still sick, he is not going to transfer power to anybody
It was an outright insult to the informed Nigerian public for the AGF to compare our current situation with the three occasions that power was transferred in the United States of America. Somebody should tell Aondoakaa that in all the American cases he cited, all the presidents involved were out of office just for few hours and not even days. Yar’adua has been out of office or more aptly, in self exile for over two months now, and we are not even sure of when he is coming back. We don’t even know his exact where about.
The AGF in real sense only indicted Yar’adua by citing several instances of American Presidents that acted wisely, to handover power - albeit for a few hours. But in our own case, the country has been without a President for two months now and his master never considered it necessary to handover power.
Is Aondoakaa not aware that in all of the American instances he mentioned, the affected Presidents of America were within the territory of America and yet deemed it fit to transmit a letter authorising their deputies to act as the President. From what is going on, it has become very obvious that some members of Yar’adua’s cabinet must have prevented the President from doing the right thing before he left for his treatment.
Another insult to the Nigerian public was the AGF’s saying that power handover has security implications. What does he mean by that? So Goodluck Jonathan cannot be trusted with security issues as it pertains to the Nigerian state? It all means that Aondoakaa and his likes in Yar’adua’s cabinet do not regard or rather accept the Vice President as a proper Nigerian despite the oath he took to defend the security and integrity of this nation. What a shame! So Vice President Jonathan has suddenly become a security? So how do you transfer power to somebody who has been branded a security risk or rather included in “persons of interest” list?
Does the AGF understand the true security implication of not having an executive president for over two months now? No! Maybe what he meant was the security of his job and those other members of FEC.
IFEANYI IZEZE, IS AN ABUJA-BASED CONSULTANT ON STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION ([email protected])
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