Nigerian Tribune

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Senators plan 7-day ultimatum for Yar’Adua - 75 senators sign motion to empower Jonathan

Written by From Taiwo Adisa, Ayodele Adesanmi, Idowu Samuel, Bola Badmus and Tunde Oyesina

THE bid to empower Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as acting president took a different turn on Wednesday, as more senators signed the motion

seeking to empower the vice-president as acting president.

It was gathered on Wednesday that no fewer than 75 senators had signed the motion, which could be presented to the Senate plenary today.

The motion could be presented after the briefing of the senators by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.

Sources, however, confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the senators have now resolved to pass the motion that would compel ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua to transmit a letter to the National Assembly in line with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution and back it up with a seven-day ultimatum.



Sources said the senators took the latest decision on the ultimatum when news filtered to them that the SGF did not have any new information of the state of health of President Yar’Adua.

Sources said the decision to summon Alhaji Ahmed by the Senate came as a surprise to the former head of service of the federation, who was said to have confided in his close allies that he suspected that the Senate was out to ridicule him.

The SGF was said to have told his close allies that the senators knew that he had not travelled outside the country for about six months now and he did not have any new information on the health of the president.

The moves were coming on the heels of a visit by some Nigerians, including the former Senate President, Senator Pius Anyim; former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu and 38 others led by Senator Anyim to the Senate and the House of Representatives to seek an end to the political impasse caused by the president’s absence.

The group, in a paper presented to the Senate President, David Mark and Speaker of the House of Representatives, ‘Dimeji Ban-kole, said the presentation of a letter to the National Assembly in Yar’Adua’s signature would resolve the ongoing impasse.

Anyim, who read the presentation by the group at the meeting with Senator Mark, said “Mr Senate President/Honourabl e Speaker, we want to emphasise that the present state of affairs in Nigeria has exposed the weakness of our constitution in this regard and the most cogent step to take is to prepare its amendment with a view to preventing future occurrences.”

Mark told the group that the Senate would look for the resolution of the political logjam within the 1999 Constitution, while Bankole justified the decisions taken so far by the House on the matter.

The moves in the Senate sent jitters to the presidency as the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mike Aondoakaa, met with lawyer senators.

The meeting, which started at 4.00 p.m., lasted till 6.00 p.m and was held inside Room 313 of the Senate new building.

The chairman of the meeting, Senator Umaru Dahiru, did not brief journalists at the end of the meeting, but when told that Nigerians were waiting, he only said “let them wait.”

The meeting, according to sources, was aimed at ensuring that the lawyers in the Senate prevail on their colleagues to drop the threat of impeachment through the signature collection.

Also, on Wednesday, it was confirmed that 75 senators had signed the motion seeking to empower Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to act as president.

A group of 60 senators had, earlier in the week, reportedly signed up to present a motion to revisit the issue of the health condition of President Yar’Adua, based on the provisions of Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution.

The Deputy Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, argued that the move was insensitive and against the spirit of the constitution, adding that the Senate was constrained by the constitution to take such an action against Yar’Adua under the present circumstances.

The senators, on Tuesday, refrained from the debate on the fresh motion to empower Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as acting president because of the need to listen to the submissions of Alhaji Ahmed, who was due to appear before the Senate today.

It was gathered that the lawmakers who were behind the fresh motion were of the view that everything must be done to stabilise Nigeria.

They insisted that even if the impeachment option was the only one open to the lawmakers, they had to explore it