Akunyili fights on, tables memo afresh
• Pro-Yar’Adua hawks mount pressure on her to resign
• Defiant Minister vows to fight on from within FEC
From NOSIKE OGBUENYI, Abuja
Friday, February 5, 2010



•Prof. Dora Akunyili
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
Courageous Information and Communications Minister, Professor Dora Akunyili, whose memo was shot down at Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) by her colleagues has duly re-submitted the memo to the council through the Cabinet Secretariat in the Presidency.

Akunyili had on Wednesday taken a bold plunge when she broke ranks with her colleagues to demand that ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua comply with section 145 of the Constitution by handing over to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as requested by the Senate and many well meaning Nigerians.
A Presidency source confirmed to Daily Sun that the Federal Government’s mouthpiece noted for her courage of conviction has defiantly stuck to her stand by re-presenting her memo to FEC through the Cabinet Secretariat Office in the Presidency.

Although when she first tabled the memo on Wednesday, reactionary hawks urging Yar’Adua to hang on while the country squeals in pains, shouted her down on alleged procedural premise, some of the members of FEC who either spoke with forked tongues or kept mute during the meeting are said to be silently supporting her. Some of them are very highly placed within the FEC are said to be sharing similar position with the Information Minister.

In the meantime, some hawks (the powerful members of President Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet) have begun piling pressure on Professor Akunyili to resign but the minister is said to be unyielding insisting that the position she took is in the best interest of the country. A source said she believes that it would be better to continue the struggle from within rather than quit the stage.

“Although, the Honourable Minister has come under intense pressure from powerful bootlickers to throw in the towel on account of her principled position, but she is resisting all the moves to intimidate or cajole her because she has her mind set on the wider interest of the country and her 150 million citizen rather than the interest of a few privileged elite. It is her firm belief that the country belongs to all Nigerians and that the future of the country and the younger generation is at risk because of the continuing uncertainty regarding the presidency. So, she is fighting on despite all the intrigues, blackmail and threats believing that posterity will vindicate her,” a source, who was present at the Cabinet Secretariat where Akunyili retabled her memo told Daily Sun yesterday. He quoted Akunyili as being sickened by the charade and hypocrisy by many of her colleagues in FEC.

Tempers had reached fever peak at last Wednesday’s FEC meeting in Abuja as the united front which the cabinet hitherto presented on the non-compliance with Section 145 of the constitution by Yar’Adua suffered a crack. Akunyili, a key member of FEC had stood aside from the rest to clear her conscience not minding the dire consequences.
Penultimate Wednesday, January 27, the controversial Attorney General and Justice Minister, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, had at a one-man briefing after the FEC meeting announced that the council had unanimously agreed that Yar’Adua was capable to continue in office and that he (Yar’Adua) could state that he is no longer fit.

However, Akunyili differed markedly from that viewpoint on Wednesday ostensibly to the surprise of many other FEC members. In her memo which was shouted down without acceptance or debate, she counseled that Yar’Adua should comply with Section 145 by notifying the National Assembly of her medical vacation and that FEC should take extra steps to ascertain the president’s medical capability or otherwise to continue in office as president and commander-in-chief as the constitution demands.
She further enjoined the members of the council to listen to the majority of Nigerians and respect constitutional provisions.
Even though the Minister pledged her loyalty to President Yar’Adua (who appointed her) and his government, she nevertheless insisted that it is morally wrong for him to refuse to facilitate the ceding of power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan about two and half months after he was flown abroad for medical treatment.

The Minister, who recently returned from an overseas trip thanked Yar’Adua for giving her and her colleagues the opportunity to serve the country. According to her, “Yar’Adua is very dear to me and indeed to all of us.”
She disagreed with those who contend that the Vice President does not need to be sworn in to act as President. Some of the hitches which the country has facing as a result of the President’s long absence which she outlined include the fact that several re-deployed and newly appointed Permanent Secretaries were yet to be sworn in and the unfinished amnesty issue for Niger Delta militants.

Meanwhile, the National Secretary of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) has allied himself with the call on President Yar’Adua to comply with section 145 of the constitution. He said in an interview with Daily Sun in Abuja that that was the right thing to do.
He said: “If the President could sign the supplementary budget then I believe he can also sign that letter to the National Assembly that the vice president should act for him until he recovers fully. It beats my imagination that people who say they love this country cannot stand up to be counted on the side of the people when it matters most.

“For instance you will agree with me that if I were the vice president like I told you I will take charge because he was duly elected as the vice president of Nigeria whatever decision he is supposed to take in the interest of this nation let him take it and let us see those who will disobey him that is when Nigerian people will now rise to the occasion. The constitution is very clear, it is just that people are playing to the gallery. As far as I am concerned, we have a vice president and nobody can deny that in the absence of the president, the vice president acts, Abdullahi added.

http://nigeriamasterweb.com/paperfrmes.html

security from who, the cabinet members.

yes oh!!! Tanimu Yakubu, Ibori and co are very dangerous!!!!!