Did President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua write a
letter to the National Assembly in January
2009 ahead of his trip out of the country
for medical check-up in accordance with
Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution?
If he did, why did his Special Adviser on
National Assembly Matters, Senator
Mohammed Abba-Aji, refuse to submit the
letter to the Senate President, Senator David
Mark and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole?
Was there another letter by Yar’Adua to the
National Assembly, before he travelled out
on November 23, 2009, notifying it of his
current medical vacation in Saudi Arabia?
If there was, who is in custody and why
was it not sent to the Senate President and
the Speaker who would have read it in
plenary as executive communication under
announcement?
Were there indeed letters by Yar’Adua or
not, or what really transpired?
These are some of the questions the Senate
would ask Abba-Aji today as he briefs it
(Upper House) behind closed doors on the
mysterious disappearance of the December
2008 letter by Yar’Adua, which did not get
to the National Assembly.
The scheduled briefing, which was
announced yesterday by Mark, would hold
at 12 noon.
The Senate, as learnt, would compel Abba-Aji
to account for the December 2008 letter,
which the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Mahmud Yayale
Ahmed, confirmed to have been written by
Yar’Adua.
The SGF had told the Senate during his
January 21, 2010 closed door briefing that
he had written the letter, which Yar’Adua
directed, should be given to the Attorney
General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister
of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa (SAN)
for vetting.
He could not confirm to the Senate whether
the letter was eventually transmitted after
vetting by the AGF as the channel of
transmitting such executive communication
to the National Assembly is the Office of the
Special Adviser on National Assembly
Matters.
But the SGF could not confirm to the Senate
whether Yar’Adua wrote another letter to
the National Assembly when he embarked
on his November 23, 2009 trip to the king
Faisal Specialist and Research Centre in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
THISDAY had exclusively reported on
December 7, 2009 that there was a vacation
letter which Yar’Adua transmitted to the
National Assembly through Abba-Aji’s office
and how he (Abba-Aji) scuttled the
submission of the letter.
In his reaction to the story, with the
headline: “How Abba-Aji Scuttled Yar’Adua’s
Vacation Letter,” Abba-Aji said Yar’Adua did
not convey any such letter through his
office to the National Assembly.
A one-page letter to THISDAY signed by the
Head, Press and Public Relations Department
of his office, Mr. Charles Akpan, had read in
part: “The Office of the Special Adviser to
the President on National Assembly Matters
would want to categorically refute the
content of your headline news titled: ‘How
Abba-Aji Scuttled Yar’Adua’s vacation letter’
of Monday, December 7, 2009.
“The Special Adviser would want to make
clear that at no time did the President
convey his desire to go on vacation
through a letter routed from his Office to
the National Assembly.”
Abba-Aji had followed up with a statement,
in which he labored to debunk the report.
The report read: “My attention has been
drawn to the above-stated banner headline
on the front page of Monday, December 7,
2009 edition of THISDAY Newspapers.
“The report went ahead to state that I
deliberately withheld an official
communication from His Excellency,
President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua to the
President of the Senate and to the Speaker
of the House of Representatives informing
the leadership of the National Assembly of
his decision to proceed on vacation to Saudi
Arabia.
“Without beating about the bush, I wish to
state unequivocally that the report was
false in its entirety, as I took no delivery of
such communication, neither personally nor
by proxy.
It is therefore unfair for any person or
group to erroneously state that I took
delivery of such a sensitive official
communication from Mr. President but
failed to deliver such to its destinations, as
contained in the THISDAY report.
“More worrisome to me was the fact that
the writer of that report failed to contact me
to confirm the authenticity of such report
before going to press.
It is surprising that a national newspaper
could go to town with a report of that
gravity without bothering to seek
confirmation from me. Strangely enough,
the writer claimed to have filed his report
from Sokoto. But the last time I visited
Sokoto was in 2007, over two years ago.
“I hereby state that the report as contained
in the said edition of THISDAY newspaper
emanated from the restless imagination of
the writer apparently for reasons best
known to him.
“I therefore vehemently reject all
insinuations and far-fetched political
manoeuvrings attributed to my person by
the writer of that report.
“It is my official duty to deliver official
communications from Mr. President to the
National Assembly. But in the case in
question, there was no such communication
from the Presidency.”
THISDAY had, in response to Abba-Aji’s
reaction, said it stood by its story and had
given him three posers, to which he (Abba-
Aji) never replied.
Today’s briefing, which was largely
interpreted as a probe of his role in the
mysterious disappearance of the December
2008 letter and the controversy over the
purportedly scuttling of the November
2009 vacation letter, is expected to provide
useful clues to the resolution of the issue(s).
The Senate had, after its closed session of
January 26 and 27 (last week) where it
considered the briefing (information
provided) by the SGF, urged Yar’Adua to
formally notify the National Assembly of his
medical vacation in line with Section 145 of
the Constitution.
But it could not attach a timeline within
which the ailing president should comply
with the resolution.
THISDAY learnt yesterday that in a bid to
determine the next step it would take if the
resolution was not respected by the
president, it decided to investigate the
circumstances surrounding the
disappearance of the December 2008 letter
and the purported non-activation of Section
145 by the president before his current
medical vacation in Saudi Arabia.
This, as further learnt, was to confirm
whether or not Yar’Adua wrote a letter
before his last trip and what became of the
letter if he did; and if he did not, why he
decided not to do so.
It would be recalled that the SGF had told the
Senate in closed session that the president
verbally directed Vice President Goodluck
Jonathan to “take charge” in his absence.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) caucus in the Senate and the National
Working Committee (NWC) of the party
under the leadership of Prince Vincent
Ogbulafor was billed to launch into a
meeting at the official residence of the
Senate President, yesterday night.
The meeting, which was yet to begin as of
the time of filing this report, was not
unconnected with the lingering impasse
occasioned by the president’s prolonged
absence and the Senate resolution urging
him to formally notify the National
Assembly of his medical vacation in line
with Section 145 of the Constitution.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=165757

Senate probes. . . . . This kinda stuff always disgusts me! Spineless morons! Ain't they all working for the same idiot?

Neptunz you need to learn to keep it short and simple