[size=18pt]Yar’Adua: Failure to write N’Assembly is impeachable offence —Falana[/size]


The President of the West African Bar Association, Mr. Femi Falana, has said that President Umaru Yar’Adua’s failure to formally inform the National Assembly about his medical trip to Saudi Arabia constituted an impeachable offence.

He said this in an interview on Wednesday shortly after the public presentation of The Gatekeepers, an abridged biography of 20 of Nigeria’s leading newspaper and magazine editors, edited by O’Femi Kolawole, in Lagos.

The theme was “Towards credible elections and deepening democracy in Nigeria: The state, the media and the people.”

Falana had on Tuesday asked the Federal High Court, Abuja to invalidate decisions taken by the Federal Executive Council in Yar’Adua’s absence.

He also asked the court to compel the President to formally inform the Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives about his medical trip and empower Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to function as acting president.

Speaking with our correspondent, he said, “Presdent Umaru Yar’Adua’s failure to write to the National Assembly before his medical trip abroad is a violation of Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution. It is an impeachable offence.”

He lamented the statement credited to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, that Yar’Adua was in charge of the government, wondering how a man who had been admited to hospital for over three weeks could be running the country.

He said, “How can the President, who is on medical vacation and has not been able to discharge his functions for the past 23 days, remain in effective charge of this country? The statement is unbecoming of an attorney-general.”

Earlier, during the event, Falana, who was the guest lecturer, said Nigeria needed credible elections to transform into a global leader.

He said the media had a great role to play in deepening democracy in the country by holding the government accountable to the people and disseminating information.

He urged the media to collaborate with other stakeholders to press for the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill without further delay.

According to him, “FOI must be passed without further delay. What befell the bill under former President Olusegun Obasanjo should not be allowed to be. All the stakeholders must be involved to make this a reality; as access to information is not restricted to the media. It is invaluable to NGOs, lawyers, entrepreneurs, researchers, among others.

“This time around, we have more problems on our hands as the leaders of both Houses of the National Assembly have sworn that they will not pass the bill, because the media will use it as a means to abuse them.”

The event, which was chaired by Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Segun Olusola, was attended by a former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh; Editor, ThisDay, Mr. Simon Kolawole; Editor, The PUNCH, Mr. Steve Ayorinde and Editor, The Sun on Sunday, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, among others.

“Nobody is deceived. Even the statement that has been issued by the Federal Government has confirmed that the President has not been able, unfortunately, to discharge the functions of his office.

“And if we are being told that the Federal Government cannot say for certain when Yar’Adua will be in a position to resume duty in Nigeria. I think the AGF should be assisted to learn to speak the truth.”

On whether the vice-president could sign the 2009 Supplementary Appropriation Bill in the President’s absence, he said that even Aondoakaa knew that Jonathan could not sign any bill passed by the National Assembly in accordance with Section 148 of the constitution.

He said the vice-president could not preside over the meetings of the Federal Executive Council, as the constitution stipulated that the President “shall hold regular meetings with the VP and the ministers on the administration of the country.”

He explained that his suit was meant to clear doubts surrounding the entire issue, expressing the hope that it would be given speedy hearing.