Yar’Adua: Nigeria may opt for two vice presidents
•Clause may appear in Constitution amendment
From NOSIKE OGBUENYI, Abuja
Wednesday, February 3, 2010


•Goodluck &•Yar’Adua
Photo: Sun Publishing
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As the country remains on the tenterhooks following the absence of ailing President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua from the country for over 70 days, indications have emerged that the National Assembly is set to amend the 1999 Constitution to include a provision for two vice presidents. Daily Sun gathered from highly reliable sources that the Senate and the House Committees on Constitution Review may have been requested to expeditiously tinker the relevant sections of the Constitution to accommodate a provision for two vice presidents.

Our source, who is a ranking member of the Upper Chamber, said the calculation is that the separate review committees of the two houses may be left with no choice than to adopt the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Constitution Review (JCCR) which was made in 2007. The committee was headed by former Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu. The 103-clause draft report was tabled at the two chambers just before the 2007 general election but was thrown out because of one controversial clause, which sought to introduce a Third Term for the president. The controversial clause was suspected to have been included primarily for the benefit of President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who allegedly wanted to elongate his tenure beyond the maximum two-term tenure.

But Daily Sun gathered that with the current power vacuum and the looming constitutional crisis in the country occasioned by the protracted illness of President Yar’Adua, the imperative of two vice presidents as recommended by the Mantu committee might have dawned on the lawmakers. They now want to revisit the Mantu committee report by “sifting the grains from the chaff,” the source revealed.
“We will not make the mistake of carrying the entire 103 clauses for amendment as the last National Assembly did. We will restrict ourselves to few vital clauses among them, including the clause that provides for two vice presidents,” the source further disclosed.

It is noteworthy that the Senate had last Wednesday directed its “committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution to propose an amendment” to “…the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to resolve the flaws exposed by the present circumstance” in the country. Although, the Senate resolution, which also urged President Yar’Adua to formally notify the National Assembly of his medical vacation only mentioned Section 145 of the Constitution as the aspect that needed urgent amendment, the source hinted that a new clause making provision for two vice presidents was also part of the mandate given the review committee.
When Daily Sun interviewed the former JCCR Chairman whose committee initially made the recommendation, he said it was not his business what the current National Assembly did with the report even as he confirmed that his committee actually recommended two vice presidents for the country.

Mantu, who spoke at his Abuja residence, said: “We made our recommendations with the stability, peace and unity of the country at the back of our minds. You can see that if that report was debated and accepted, we would not have been in this tight corner that we have found ourselves today because we envisaged that this kind of development might arise once in a while in our political history. What we proposed with good intention is that one of the two vice presidents should be from the geo-political zone where the president comes from so that in the event of incapacitation, resignation or death, the vice president from the incumbent president’s zone would serve out the remaining years for the zone. But unfortunately, those who believed that they know better than the rest of the people came with their blackmail and what resulted was the throwing away of the baby with the bath water.”

Asked whether he would re-submit the report to the present National Assembly if called upon to do so, he said it was not for him to do that, adding that the report was still there in the archives as the property of National Assembly. “It is left to them to revisit it or throw it into the dustbin. We have done our bit, but what I can say is that we did a good job to the best of our ability. We may not have been perfect as human beings but we contributed our quota. No one person can be blamed for the clause on Third Term because it was something majority of the members of the committee adopted; but if one out of over 100 clauses was considered bad, why not remove that clause or few clauses and pass the rest for the benefit of the society rather than sacrifice the whole report. It is really painful, considering the time, resources and energy spent in reaching that stage and putting together that report. And remember, Nigeria is a very big and complex country that requires some peculiar political engineering to manage,” the former deputy Senate president between 2000 and 2007 emphasised.

Concerning the lingering ill-health of the President, Mantu said: “First of all, I’m happy that you acknowledged that anybody can be sick and that anybody can die at any given time. Sickness and death are two things that can befall anybody at any given time, Therefore when somebody falls sick, ordinarily what he deserves is sympathy and prayers that God will heal him fast. That is the case particularly if the person is very highly placed like the president of the country. The nation should pray for him so that he will recover quickly and continue with the affairs of running the state.

He said it was unfortunate that people were politicizing the illness of the President, contending that: “This is not the first President to fall sick while in office. There are many Presidents in the world that I have read about who had fallen sick while in office. In fact, recently Cuban President, Fidel Castro was sick and could not be in his office for about two years while somebody was acting in his place and when he recovered he returned and continued with service as the President of that country. I also know that at a point in time, the President of the USA was on a wheel chair and yet continued in office as President until his tenure expired.”

According to Mantu, administering or governing a country or state “does not require the energy of Mike Tyson necessarily,” adding that it is the mental capacity that is most needed. He also argued that there was no power vacuum as some people believed. “The Vice President is there and basically, the job of any Vice President is to act in the capacity of the principal when the principal is away. So, Goodluck Jonathan has been acting as President in the absence of the President. And I know that since the advent of this democratic dispensation in 1999, major government decisions had always been taken at the Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meetings. And since President Yar’Adua left the country, there has never been a Wednesday that the Federal Executive Council failed to hold.”

Mantu expressed satisfaction with the manner Vice President Jonathan has been acting in the absence of the President. “I’m happy with the actions he (Jonathan) had been taking in that capacity so far, like ordering that troops be deployed in Plateau following the crisis in Jos to assist the Police,” he stated.



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Wonders shall never end 

With two vice presidents, there would be serious in-fighting and schemings between the two VPs to out-do each other in order to curry the president's favour. The situation would be worse if the president happens to prefer to relate with one more than the other and that would take the nation back to a level worse than the status quo ante.

What we proposed with good intention is that one of the two vice presidents should be from the geo-political zone where the president comes from so that in the event of incapacitation, resignation or death, the vice president from the incumbent president’s zone would serve out the remaining years for the zone. But unfortunately, those who believed that they know better than the rest of the people came with their blackmail and what resulted was the throwing away of the baby with the bath water

I was expecting this. When Mantu came on air giving support to Yar'Adua some days ago, I knew he was going to put an agenda. How can we be talking of this kind of option in the 21st century? To add sore to injury, one of the VPs will have to come from the President's region. I think it is high time we tell all these PDP people that enough is enough with this zoning arrangement. We need a human being who is nationalistic enough rather than an ethnic leaders. The zoning arrangement is alien to our constitution. A PDP contraption is bound to fail. Every Nigerian is qualified to aspire to the highest office in the land. Enough is enough

it can not happen.

how long does it take to review and amend a constitution? when the process is about to happen will nigerians be dumb to it? these nigerians protesting now will seat back and say yeah, i think not. forget it its all fake news.

did they also consider the possibilities of the president and the 'favored' vice president being incapacitated at the same time?

Also, what use would the second vice president be when we know from experience that vice presidents are generally 'spare tires'?
Why ethnic presidency?

Also if the presidency is zoned to a highly heterogeneous area such as south south, will this arrangement still work?
in the same vein, has someone thought of the implications of this strange arrangement at state level?

keeeem:

I was expecting this. When Mantu came on air giving support to Yar'Adua some days ago, I knew he was going to put an agenda.

I watched Mantu on the television two days ago spewing rubbish as if the words coming out of his mouth were too hot and he was in a hurry to vomit them before they burned off his throat.

This is a man from whom no good can ever spring forth. Now they are talking of amending the constitution and inserting this obnoxious idea into the constitution. What has been a party arrangement would now become a national issue which at the end of the day would not do anyone any good order than to aggravate the tribal sentiments in our midst that we are all fighting to destroy.

Insert Quote

What we proposed with good intention is that one of the two vice presidents should be from the geo-political zone where the president comes from so that in the event of incapacitation, resignation or death, the vice president from the incumbent president’s zone would serve out the remaining years for the zone. But unfortunately, those who believed that they know better than the rest of the people came with their blackmail and what resulted was the throwing away of the baby with the bath water

It is now clear that the president is incapacitated but the only thing standing btw Goodluck and the presidency is his ethnicity. The truth is now coming out. "One Nigeria"

In Nigeria any unthinkable thing can happen as against what obtains anywhere else in the world. Nigeria seems to be creating a world of her own. To have a president and one extra vice president come from the same zone is preposterous. It only suggests that those who are reasoning that way are afraid to trust other people from other geopolitical zones with leadership position.
I feel that section should be expunged from the proposed amendment as it's likely to create unnecessary friction, mutual suspicion and intrigues. If I may ask, how would the president delegate power in such an arrangement? Would the pendulum of power not be over tilted in one direction? The presidency is a Nigerian issue not a zonal, tribal or religious affair. Everybody should be given the opportunity to be a president in this country if he/she meets the guidelines. A particular section of this country should not see themselves as dictators from whom orders should be taken as far as the political affairs of the nation is concerned.
http://politicalfield..com

A land of the impossible.

Posted on: Today at 08:55:01 AM
Posted by: desgiezd
Insert Quote
With two vice presidents, there would be
serious in-fighting and schemings
between the two VPs to out-do each
other in order to curry the president's
favour. The situation would be worse if
the president happens to prefer to relate
with one more than the other and that
would take the nation back to a level
worse than the status quo ante.

THIS IS AN IDEAL OF CREATING TENSION IN THE LAND THERE BY PAVING WAY FOR A NORTHERN TO CONTINUE WHERE YARADUA STOP. WE NO IT ,IT WILL NOT WORK YOU CAN NOT SERVED TWO MASTERS AT THE SAME TIME NIGERIA IS TWO BIG FOR THAT KIND OF IDEAL WHO ARE THE FOOLING

Our Northern brothers especially the politicians are the most dishonest and unpatrotic Nigerians with the exceptions of handy few , Ribadus' el Rufai, Abubakar Umar group.

They are 'born to rule' and they don't even know how to do it, and that is why Nigeria is where is it today.

Yar A'do nothing for all purposes of intent is not only insane but dead. A President of 10,000 employees will have speak out on where is taking his corporation not to talk of President to 140million people left without security of the authority of the C-I-C.

OBj saga of third term was a mistake that tanish his reputation of always handing over as agreed. I have the gut feeling he was misled by his kitchen cabinet and 'chop chop cabal' to do this and failed to show leadership. He also failed in his selection or approval of Yar A'clueless. Being a good man is not sufficient for being a President of Nigeria as he obj himself has come to acknowledge.

It is clear not only is the Northern oligarchy dishonest but so is also Yar A'failure.

One day, this our northern brothers  will outplayed themselves in their unprogressive politics which the loser is always Nigerians. The idea of zonal Presidency was done to pacify them to handover to OBj since they have stranglehold because of their numbers in the Armed forces. I think we need to re-approach the whold entity called Nigeria.

For nearly 3 years of Yar A'dull Presidency, it was sickness upon sickness and nothing to show for his tenure so far.

NIgerians need to know how much is our current Foreign Reserves because not only did OBJ paid our foreign debts but also leaves behind $50 billion dollars reserves.

The idea of 2 vice President at this point is just for diversion and in any event what solution will that provide both in the short and long term.

This sounds true cosidering the hesitation to allow Jonathan to fill the vacuum. There are fears that he may use the power of incumbency to contest for 2011 elections, thereby cutting off the North`s rightful eight-year tenure to rule Nigeria.
However,I wont be suprised if one of the vice presidents turns out to be Turai.