Plot, intrigues against VP thicken - Power, water supplies regularly interrupted in Aguda House - His correspondences under close monitoring - VP keeps mute
By Our Reporters
Friday, January 15, 2010
VICE-President Goodluck Jonathan has been subjected to great discomfort in the last four weeks, as events are attesting to this, Nigerian Tribune investigations have revealed.
Since the clamour by Nigerians that Vice-President Jonathan should act as president has been intensified following the continued absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua, who is thought to be currently recupperating in a Saudi Arabian hospital, the vice-president is reportedly prone to attacks in the Villa, according to Nigerian Tribune source.
One of such attempts against the number two citizen was through food poisoning, which sources said the vice-president himself had taken note of and therefore refrained himself from taking food and drinks served in the State House.
Nigerian Tribune also gathered that events in the last four weeks in the Villa suggest that there is more to the threat to the life of Vice-President Jonathan. The latest remote or near incident, according to sources, indicated that a top company which manages Aso Rock, is this time orchestrating the plan.
For instance, sources said the entire Presidential Villa was thrown into darkness on Tuesday night, when the vice-president was billed to host members of the Diplomatic Corps in Aguda House.
The incident was so dramatic that even the envoys were quite stunned. Sources said that as soon as the diplomats began to trickle in, the Villa was, without warning, plunged into darkness for close to one hour.
The confused ambassadors, it was gathered, were seen huddling together, wondering if the Presidential Villa had no standby generator, or if there was something sinister about it.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that, when power was finally restored, the central public address system failed to work, causing the vice-president’s aides to run helter-skelter for remedy.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that it was not the first time such an incident had happened. Sources said that in December 2009, during the Christmas Carol night hosted by the vice-president, the Villa was similarly thrown into darkness, causing a similar scare.
“And when power was eventually restored, the air conditioners were deliberately shut down. Over 100 guests had to endure the suffocating heat of the banquet hall during the event, but dramatically, the air conditioners began to work again as soon as the event ended,” the source said.
It was learnt that mobile phones are programmed not to work in the Presidential Villa, leaving the principals and staff with no choice but to use the telephone lines run by the company.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that situation had become so bad that the company is being fingered in an effort to sabotage the vice-president’s activities in the Villa. During the week, Jonathan was said to have issued a query to the company over recent happenings.
The role of the top company said to be managing the Villa was also said to be another “instrument” being used to sabotage the efforts of Vice-President Jonathan or cause him discomfort.

The Nigerian Tribune learnt that given its vantage position, the company holds sway over virtually all activities in the Villa. It was gathered that its access to every part of the villa is unrestricted.
Sources said: “The company has unfettered access to the vice-president’s offices and the innermost recesses of his living quarters. They control the telephones, so they can have access to the vice-president’s conversation, and they run the internet services, so they have access to private e-mails through the web portal.”

It was gathered that this company is being used to monitor the vice president’s activities, while sources said that “they do this by shutting down facilities like electricity and water at such hours in sections of Aguda House and when they are inevitably invited to check what has gone wrong, they are able to pinpoint where the vice-president is and when.”

Meanwhile, rather than abating the constitutional crisis, Wednesday’s verdict by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Daniel Abutu, has further deepened the logjam occasioned by the long absence of President Yar’Adua.

Abutu, had on Wednesday, directed Vice-President Jonathan to perform the functions of the president in his absence. Curiously, the judge was emphatic that Jonathan was not an acting president as adherence to section 145 of the constitution, according to Abutu, was at the discretion of the president.
This is coming on the heels of a warning by the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the umbrella body of Ijaw ethnic nationality, that the verdict was capable of causing further damage than ameliorating it.

INC’s position was made known by its National President, Dr Atuboyedia Obiannime. Obiannime spoke as constitutional law expert, Professor Itsey Sagay, said that the verdict had said nothing new.

Also, the coordinator of Ijaw Monitoring Group, Joseph Evah, canvassed that further steps should be taken to address the issue along the constitution instead of putting the nation’s judiciary to ridicule.

”The development is a very welcome one. I mean it means that the judiciary is also seen to be performing its duties as the third tier of government. But I doubt if the verdict has really leveraged anything near the resolution of the crisis because it is already a constitutional crisis. Rather, I see a situation where some persons have decided to impose their political inclinations as well as their personal views on the nation. By and large, what they are doing is simply replacing the nation’s supreme document, which is the constitution, with their views.

“In my own view, this is very dangerous and it is capable of instigating doubts in the minds of the people, whether the prayers of Nigerians are, indeed, needed. Nevertheless, much as the INC will continue to pray for the quick recovery of the president, it abhors anything aimed at undermining the nation’s constitution to suit the personal whims and caprices of a few individuals.

“We pray for the vice-president as he pilots the affairs of the nation, but he has to be wary of booby traps such as this verdict,” Obiannime said. Sagay said “this verdict has said nothing new in its enterity. I have not seen the full text of the verdict, but from what I have seen this morning in some newspapers, it is mere academic exercise for anyone to say the vice-president should continue to perform the duties of the president.

“The verdict is nothing new from what the justice minister said that all other things requiring the attention of the president are being attended to by the vice-president. To me, the verdict has successfully affirmed that position. Beyond that, the verdict is a very trickey one that requires the carefulness of the vice-president because it is capable of pitching him against the constitution and, even, his boss.
In his own reaction, Evah said ”the verdict delivered by the chief judge of the Federal High Court has confirmed that there is a cabal in this country that is trying to subvert the nation’s constitution by all means, but Nigerians will reject it with all legal means because the nation belongs to all of us.
“What the judge said in the verdict was just to read out the provisions of Section 50 of the constitution; does Jonathan need a judge to answer his name as Jonathan or doesn’t he know that he is a vice-president? As far as we know, the verdict is another way of deceiving the vice-president to believe in the wrong thing but he will survive all these intrigues.”