Nigeria's parliament empowered Vice
President Goodluck Jonathan to run Africa's
most populous nation Tuesday in place of
an ill and absent president, striving for a
political end to a crisis that ground the
government to a virtual halt and triggered
the resumption of an insurgency in the vital
oil sector.
But the move is not contemplated in the
constitution, legal experts say, and could
cause more friction between the Christian
south, which gains the presidency at least
temporarily, and Muslim north, which finds
itself out of the seat of power.
Jonathan told the nation in a televised
address Tuesday night that he had assumed
power as acting president and commander
in chief of the country of 150 million
people. He urged all Nigerians to continue to
pray for elected President Umaru Yar'Adua,
who left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia on Nov.
23. Yar'Adua's physician has said the 58-
year-old, who long has suffered from
kidney ailments, is being treated for acute
pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac
surrounding the heart.
"The events of the recent past have put to
the test our collective resolve as a
democratic nation," Jonathan said. He later
added: "We have all shown that our unity as
a people, our love for this country, and our
hope for its great future cannot be shaken."
Much of the Nigerian government has been
at a standstill. Yar'Adua did not write a letter
to the vice president alerting him of the
medical absence and empowering him to
act as president, as called for in the 1999
constitution. Yar'Adua's absence has caused
a cease-fire he negotiated with insurgents
in the country's oil-rich Niger Delta to
unravel and oil contracts have gone
unsigned. The political turmoil in a powerful
country with a long history of coups and
military dictatorships recently prompted U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
and European leaders to call on the nation
to follow its constitution.
Newspapers began worrying about
possible coup scenarios as Yar'Adua's
absence grew longer. However, military
leaders insist they have no ambitions to
take power and will respect the constitution.
Jonathan thanked the security services
during his Tuesday night address "for their
loyalty and devotion to duty during this
trying period."
Both the House of Representatives and the
Senate on Tuesday passed measures calling
on Jonathan to act as president and
commander in chief until Yar'Adua returns
from Saudi Arabia. There's no indication
Yar'Adua will return any time soon, and
details about his illness remain unknown to
the public.
Despite the lack of a letter from Yar'Adua
designating Jonathan in charge, Senate
President David Marks said a telephone
interview the president gave to the BBC
about his poor health could act in place of a
formal letter.
"The BBC interview is as good as the letter
envisaged by the constitution," Mark said.
However, some legal experts say the
constitution offers no remedy when a
president declines to send the letter and it
does not empower the National Assembly to
act as it did.
"I'm not sure they are on strong ground
legally," Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu, president
of the Nigerian Bar Association, told The
Associated Press. "There's nothing enabling
them to do what they have done."
Akeredolu said the bar association hasn't
decided whether to challenge the
lawmakers' action. The move renders moot
several lawsuits against the federal
government asking it to declare Jonathan
president in Yar'Adua's absence. Public
discontent over the 58-year-old Yar'Adua's
absence may also be mollified. As weeks
stretched into months, local newspapers
began publishing small graphics on their
front pages noting the number of days the
president has been away from Nigeria.
Jonathan served as a governor in oil-rich
Bayelsa state before being picked as
Yar'Adua's running mate on the 2007 ticket
for the People's Democratic Party, the ruling
political party in Nigeria. Jonathan, a
Christian who is fond of bowler hats, largely
avoided the infighting in Yar'Adua's
absence and remained silent as the nation's
de facto leader. His only major act in
Yar'Adua's absence came when he called
out the military to restore order in central
Nigeria after fighting between Christians
and Muslims claimed more than 300 lives.
Parliament's action could cause further
tensions between the two faiths. An
unwritten power-sharing agreement within
the PDP between Nigeria's Christians and
Muslims calls for the presidency to alternate
between the two faiths. Jonathan, a
Christian, would be taking over for
Yar'Adua, a Muslim, before his appointed
time is up. Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, a former dictator who became
the civilian elected leader in 1999 and
preceded Yar'Adua, is a Christian who
served two terms.
Perhaps with an eye for what waits ahead,
Jonathan called for national unity.
"Today affords us time to reconnect with
ourselves and overcome any suspicions,
hurts and doubts, which have occurred," he
said. "In all these, there are no winners and
no losers, because by the grace of God we
have once again succeeded in moving our
country forward."
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